Turkey: 16 percent of elderly are poor, 10 percent are in the labor force

* Photo: Pixabay; ** Graphs: TurkStat

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The Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), the state agency producing official statistics on Turkey, has released the "Elderly Statistics" for 2021.

According to the TurkStat figures, while the elderly population of Turkey, including the ones aged 65 years and over, was 6 million 651 thousand 503 persons in 2016, it increased by 2 percent in the last five years and became 8 million 245 thousand 124 persons in 2021.

While the proportion of the elderly population in the total population was 8.3 percent in 2016, it increased to 9.7 percent in 2021. 44.3 percent of elderly population was men and 55.7 percent was women in 2021.

According to the population projections, the proportion of elderly population was expected to be 11 percent in 2025, 12.9 percent in 2030, 16.3 percent in 2040, 22.6 percent in 2060 and 25.6 percent in 2080.

* Proportion of population by age group, 1935-2080

Age structure changed, median age increased

Passing the proportion of 10 percent of the elderly population in the total population is an indicator of an aging population. In Turkey, the elderly population increased with a rate higher than that of other age groups.

The median age is the age of the person in the middle when the ages of all people in the population are sorted from the new-born baby to the oldest. The median age, an indicator of aging population, was 31.4 in 2016 and 33.1 in 2021. It was 32.4 for men and 33.8 for women in 2021.

According to the population projections, the median age was to be 34.1 in 2025, 35.6 in 2030, 38.5 in 2040, 42.3 in 2060 and 45 in 2080.

Elderly dependency ratio: 14.3 percent

Elderly dependency ratio means the number of elderly persons per hundred persons in working age. While the elderly dependency ratio was 12.3 percent in 2016, it increased to 14.3 percent in 2021.

According to the population projections, elderly dependency ratio was expected to be 16.4 percent in 2025, 19.6 percent in 2030, 25.3 percent in 2040, 37.5 percent in 2060 and 43.6 percent in 2080.

Turkey ranks 68th in elderly population

According to the population estimates, the world population was 7 billion 831 million 718 thousand 605 people and the elderly population was 764 million 321 thousand 142 people in 2021. According to these estimates, 9.8 percent of the world population was elderly population.

The three countries that had the highest proportion of elderly population were Monaco with 34.3 percent, Japan with 28.8 percent and Italy with 22.8 percent, respectively. Turkey was 68th among 167 countries.

At least one elderly person in 1 in 4 households

6 million 112 thousand 760 households out of 25 million 329 thousand 833 households consisted of at least one elderly person in 2021: At least one elderly person lived in 24.1 percent of households.

1 million 561 thousand 398 households out of 6 million 112 thousand 760 households consisted of one elderly person living alone. 74.9 percent of them were elderly women and 25.1 percent were elderly men.

5,859 centenarians in Turkey

The number of centenarians, which constituted 0.1 percent of elderly population, was 5 thousand 859 in 2021.

While the first three cities that had the highest centenarians were İstanbul with 815 persons, Şanlıurfa with 276 persons and Mardin with 272 persons, the first three cities that had the lowest centenarians was Bartın and Bayburt with 7 persons, Ardahan and Bilecik with 8 persons.

Proportion of educated elderly increased

While the proportion of illiterate elderly population was 20.8 percent in 2016, it decreased to 15.6 percent in 2020.

It was seen that the proportion of the illiterate elderly female population was about 5 times higher than that of elderly male population in 2020. While the proportion of the illiterate elderly female population was 24.2 percent, this proportion was 4.7 percent for elderly male population.

* Literacy level of elderly population by sex, 2016, 2020

When elderly population was examined by their levels of education, it was seen that while 43.7 percent of elderly population was primary school, 5.6 percent of them was junior high school or equivalent/primary education, 5.9 percent of them was high school or equivalent, 5.8 percent of them was higher education graduates in 2016, these proportions increased to 46.1 percent in primary school, 7.9 percent in junior high school or equivalent/primary education, 8.0 percent in high school or equivalent and 7.4 percent in higher education graduates in 2020.

When the level of education of the elderly population was examined by sex, there was a significant difference between sexes. It was seen that the proportion of the elderly male population was higher than that of the female population at all completed levels of education.

Poverty rate 16.7 percent for elderly population

According to the results of the income and living conditions survey, while the poverty rate calculated by using 60 percent of equalized household disposable median income was 21.2 percent for Turkey in 2016, this rate was 21.9 percent in 2020. While the poverty rate for elderly population was 16.0 percent in 2016, this rate was 16.7 percent in 2020.

When the poverty of elderly population in Turkey was examined by sex, it was seen that while the poverty rate for elderly male population was 14.7 percent in 2016, this rate was 15.6 percent in 2020.

While the poverty rate for elderly female population was 17.0 percent in 2016, this rate was 17.6 percent in 2020.

Labor force participation rate: 10 percent

While the labor force participation rate for the 15 and over aged population was 52 percent in Turkey in 2016, this rate was 49.3 percent in 2020. While the labor force participation rate for elderly population was 11.8 percent in 2016, this rate was 10 percent in 2020.

When the labour force participation rate was examined by sex, this rate was 16.8 percent for elderly male population, and it was 4.6 percent for elderly female population in 2020. While the unemployment rate of elderly population was 2.6 percent in 2016, it was 2.7 percent in 2020.

* Labour force status by age group and sex, 2020

64.2 percent employed in agricultural sector

According to the labor force statistics, when the sectoral distribution of the employed elderly population was examined, elderly population was employed in the agricultural sector with 64.2 percent.

It was followed by the services sector with 27.7 percent, industry sector with 6.1 percent and construction sector with 2.0 percent in 2020.

56.2 percent said they are happy

According to the life satisfaction survey, while the proportion of individuals aged 18 and over who declared themselves as happy was 49.3 percent in 2021, it was 56.2 percent for individuals aged 65 and over. When the general level of happiness was examined by sex, 51.2 percent of elderly men and 60.1 percent of elderly women declared themselves as happy in 2021.

Sources of happiness for elderly people were reportedly their families with 64.2 percent, their children with 18.0 percent, their spouses with 6.9 percent and their grandchildren with 6.4 percent in 2016.

In 2021, sources of happiness for elderly people were their families with 59.9 percent, their children with 21.5 percent, their grandchildren with 8.1 percent and their spouses with 6.2 percent.

* General level of happiness by age group and sex, 2021

Elderly people using Internet: 4-time increase

According to the results of the information and communication technology usage survey in households and by individuals, while the proportion of elderly people using the Internet in the 65-74 age group was 8.8 percent in 2016, this proportion increased to 32.5 percent in 2021.

When the elderly people using Internet were examined by sex, it was seen that men used Internet more than women. While the proportion of elderly men using the Internet was 40.0 percent, the proportion of elderly women was 25.9 percent in 2021. (SD)

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