Sharp decline in the number of children and young people
Articles Çarşamba, 29 Temmuz 2009
Between 2000 and 2008 in Turkey, the population of age groups of 0-4, 5-9, 10-14, 15-19 and 19-24, decreased by 8.91%, 6.49%, 5.91% and 6.48% respectively.
Due to the modern living and economic hardships, the reflections that are observed in the birth decline in Turkey's population have started to surface.
Here are the figures that verify the danger the Prime Minister points to:
While the below-25 population of Turkey decreased by 2,889,467 in the 2000-2008 period, the 65 and over population increased by 1,034,474. According to the data that a reporter of Anatolian Agency gathered from the Turkish Statistics Institution, the number of young people aged between 0-24, which was 34,119,716 in 2000, decreased by 2,889,467 (8.5%) and fell to 31,230,467. In the same period, the number of people aged 65 and over increased by 26.8% and rose to 4,893,000 from 3,858,949 people.
While the 0-24 age group constituted the 50.3 percent of the total population of 67,803,927 in 2000, this group constituted the 43.7 percent of the total population of 71,517,100 in 2008. In other words, despite the 5.48 percent increase observed in the total population its share in young population decreased. In the same period, while the age group of 65 and over constituted the 0.6 percent of the total population in 2000, it constituted the 0.7 percent in 2008.
Contrary to the common belief, the increase observed in the aged population against the decrease in the young population shows that the Turkish population is gradually aging.
While a decrease was observed in the population in the age groups of 0-4, 5-9, 10-14, 15-19 and 19-24, there was an increase in other periods.
The highest decrease among the age groups was in the ages of 15-19 with 14.21 percent (1,024,371). In this age group, the population of 7,209,475 in 2000 fell to 6.185.104.
Young population decreases rapidly
Between 2000 and 2008 in Turkey, the population of age groups of 0-4, 5-9, 10-14, 15-19 and 19-24, decreased by 8.91%, 6.49%, 5.91% and 6.48% respectively.
The highest increase rate among the age groups was observed in the age group of 80‑84 with 131.54%. In this age group, the number of population, which was 246,692 in 2000, rose to 324,487 in 2008. The age group with the next highest increase rate was 75-79 with 92.31%, from 577,597 to 1,110,782.
While the percentages of the age groups of 0-4 and 0-14 in total population in 1935 were 16.89% and 41.24%, in 2008 these percentages decreased by 8.39% and 26.27% respectively. In the same period, while the percentage in the 0-24 age group fell to 43.67% from 56.31%, the percentage in the age group of 65 and over rose to 6.84% from 3.87%.
While the population increase rate was 28.53/1000 between 1955 and 1960 it fell to 18.28/1000 between 1990 and 2000, and to 13.19/1000 in 2008.
