One out of every three young people in Turkey plans to move abroad

* Photo: Social media

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

The Habitat Association of Turkey has shared the results of its study on "the state of the young" in the country.

As part of this study, 1,230 people at the ages of 18-30 participated in face-to-face surveys in 16 provinces of Turkey from October 2, 2020 to November 20, 2020. The answers of the young show that their "life satisfaction" decreased by 13 points when compared to the numbers in 2017.

When the association conducted these surveys in 2017, 71 percent of the young said that they were satisfied with their lives. However, last year, this rate dropped to 58 percent. The number of those hopeful for the future also decreased from 67 percent in 2017 to 57 percent in 2020.

21 percent want education abroad

When the young were asked whether they wanted to continue their education abroad in the future, 21 percent answered in the affirmative.

They were also asked whether they wanted to move and settle abroad. To this question, 31 percent answered, "I want to live abroad." The favorite country is Germany, according to the survey results.

Workers are now more hopeful

When the surveys were conducted in 2017 and 2019, the most hopeful group was students with 77 and 64 percent, respectively. However, in 2020, it was seen that workers were now "the most hopeful" group.

In 2017, almost half the young looking for a job were hopeful for the future. In 2019, this rate dropped to 38 percent. It was 42 percent in 2020.

Satisfaction with education: 62 percent

The respondents of the survey were also asked questions about their satisfaction with their education. In 2017, 74 percent of the participants said that they were satisfied with their education. While this rate dropped to 71 percent in 2019, it dropped further to 62 percent in 2020.

The study has also shown that the problems with education brought about by the pandemic were experienced more severely by women.

According to survey results, 57 percent of young women could not prepare enough for their classes and exams, 55 percent could not access classes regularly, 53 percent could not attend their classes sufficiently and half of the young women had difficulty in contacting teachers or lecturers.

As for young men, 52 could not prepare enough for their classes and exams, 48 percent could not access classes regularly or attend them enough and 47 percent had difficulty in contacting teachers or lecturers.

While 41 percent of young women could not hand in their homeworks and 73 percent of them could not take some exams in 2020, these rates were 32 and 35 percent for men respectively.

While 41 percent of all participants said that they still think face-to-face classes would be held in this school year, 47 percent did not see it possible. 

When the students were asked their opinions about their education, 73 percent said that face-to-face education was beneficial, while this rate was only 7 percent for the distance education. 10 percent of the participants saw no difference between the two in that regard. (RT/SD)