Youth in Statistics, 2017

Young population constituted 16.1% of Turkey’s population
According to the results of Address Based Population Registration System (ABPRS), while the total population of Turkey was 80 million 810 thousand and 525 by the end of 2017, the young population at the age group of 15-24 was 12 million 983 thousand 97. Young population constituted 16.1% of total population. While young male population constituted 51.2% of young population, female population constituted 48.8% of it.

According to population projections; it was foreseen that the young population will be 13.4% of total population in 2040, 11.8% in 2060 and 11.1% in 2080.

According to the results of ABPRS, Hakkari had the highest proportion of young population with 25.6% in 2017. Hakkari was followed by Şırnak with 23.8% and Bayburt with 23.6%. The provinces with the lowest proportion of young population were Muğla with 13%, Balıkesir with 13.3%, İzmir and Sinop with 13.8% respectively.

In Turkey, while net schooling ratio in higher education in 2015/’16 educational year was 40.9%, this ratio increased to 42.4% in 2016/’17 educational year. When net schooling ratio in higher education was analyzed by sex, while this ratio for males increased from 39.2% to 40.5%, for females it increased from 42.6% to 44.4%.

 According to the results of household labour force survey, while unemployment rate was 19.6% for young people in 2016, it was realized as 20.8% in 2017. This rate was 17.8% for young males with 0.4 point increase and 26.1% for young females with 2.4 point increase with respect to previous year.

The proportion of young people who took part in neither education nor employment in 2017 was 24.2%. While this proportion was 14.6% for young males, it was 34% for young females.

According to household labour force survey; when employment rate of young people was analyzed with respect to previous year, young employment rate was 34.3% in 2017 with 0.2 point increase. When employment rate was analyzed by sex, this rate for young males was 45.4% with 0.6 point increase, and 23% for young females with 0.2 point decrease.

While young employment was analyzed by sectors, it was seen that 18% of young people were employed in agriculture sector, 30.4% in industrial sector and 51.6% of them were employed in service sector. It was also seen that while 14.6% of young males took part in agriculture sector, 36.5% in industrial sector and 48.9% of them were employed in service sector, 24.9% of females took part in agriculture sector, 18% in industrial sector and 57.1% of them were employed in service sector.

According to the results of causes of death statistics, when the causes of death of the individuals aged 15 and over was analysed; it was seen that the circulatory system diseases constituted 41.5% of deaths, while deaths due to external causes of injury and poisoning for young people was 50.9% in 2017. The proportion of deaths due to external causes of injury and poisoning was 57.6% for young males and 31.9% for young females.

While the proportion of deaths due to benign and malignant tumors in young people was 12.2%, this proportion was realized as 10% for young males and 18.3% for young females.

 According to Turkey health survey results, when tobacco usage status was analyzed, the proportion of adults aged 25 and over who are daily tobacco users had been 29.6% in 2014 while it was 28.7% in 2016. This proportion was 43.2% for males and 14.6% for females.

When tobacco usage status was analyzed for young people aged 15-24, it was seen that the proportion of young people who are daily tobacco users had been 18.5% in 2014 while it decreased to 18.1% in 2016. The proportion of young people who use tobacco ocassionally was 4.9% in 2014 while it decreased to 3.3% in 2016. The proportion of young people who never smoked was 67.7% in 2014 while it increased to 75.9% in 2016.

While daily tobacco usage status was analyzed by sex, it was seen that males use tobacco more than females. The proportion of young males who are daily tobacco users was 28.2% while the proportion of young females was 7.8% in 2016.

According to Turkey health survey results, when the body mass index, that was calculated by height and weight values, was analyzed; the proportion of obese individuals aged 25 and over was 23.6% in 2016 while it had been 24.2% in 2014.

Proportion of obese young people increased to 3.8% in 2016 while it had been 3.3% in 2014. While the proportion of young males who are obese were 3.2% and the proportion of young females who are obese were 3.5% in 2014, these proportions were 3.5% and 4.1% in 2016 respectively.

According to the results of information and communication technology usage survey in households and by individuals, the proportion of Internet usage among young people at the age group of 16-24 increased to 90% in 2017 while it was 87.5% in 2016. While this proportion for young males was 93.3% in 2017 with a decrease of 0.9 points, this proportion was 86.7% for young females with an increase of 6 points compared to the previous year.

According to the results of life satisfaction survey, the proportion of young people at the age group of 18-24 who declared that they were happy was 61.3% in 2017. This proportion for young males was 55.3% while it was 67.4% for young females.

According to the results of life satisfaction survey; health was the first value as a source of happiness for young people with 48.2% in 2017. This was followed by success with 22.8% and love with 20.6%. While the first value as a ​source of happiness for young males and females did not change, in the second order, it was success for young males with 26.3% and love for young females with 22.8%. Love took place in the third order as a source of happiness for young males with 18.4% while success took place in the third order as a source of happiness for young females with 19.2%.

According to the results of life satisfaction survey; 79.3% of the young people were satisfied from their job, while 51.1% of them were satisfied from their income received from their job in 2017. For young males, the proportion of satisfaction from job was 80.3% and the satisfaction from the income received from their job  was 54.1%, while for young females these proportions were 76.8% and 43.9%, respectively.

According to the results of life satisfaction survey; 60.5% of the young people declared that they were satisfied from the education they received up to now in 2017. 62.3% of the young males were satisfied from the education they received while 58.5% of young females were satisfied from the education they received.

The next press release related to this issue will be on May, 2019.

EXPLANATIONS
Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) has been published press releases since 2012 on special days and occasions considering the importance of such days. The most important step to overcome obstacles to produce effective youth policy and to realize structural changes that will provide permanent solutions is to produce policies regarding education, health, personal life, labour force, social inclusion, taking an equal share of income etc. for young people in our country.

TurkStat has published this press release as a special press release within the context of “19 May Commemoration of Atatürk, National Youth and Sports Day” in order to make necessary policies and to monitor effects of these policies successfully. The data included in the press release were compiled from censuses and surveys that were carried out by TurkStat and administrative registers.