Changes in Türkiye’s fertility rate are fueling debate over the country’s future demographic makeup.
The latest data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) show that the country’s total fertility rate remains below the population replacement level.
According to the data, the total fertility rate – the average number of children a woman aged 15 to 49 is expected to have over her lifetime – fell from 2.38 in 2001 to 1.42 in 2025.
TurkStat data show that the fertility rate has declined every year since 2014 and has remained below the replacement level of 2.10 for the past nine years.
“The decline is part of a long-term social transformation,” said Mehmet Fatih Aysan, a professor from Istanbul’s Marmara University, in an exclusive interview with Daily Sabah.
