In my previous article, I mentioned the child statistics published by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) as an important dataset revealing the demographic transformation of Türkiye. I evaluated the clues of the aging process that Türkiye is going through. Undoubtedly, this rapid transformation experienced by the Turkish population has very important consequences in terms of the health care and social welfare system, and the country's economic development model. Furthermore, the tragic aging trend of the population constitutes an existential threat to the future of the nation.

In this article, I will further examine these statistics in terms of data such as education, care and health for children and the socio-economic status of children in Türkiye.

Initially, it must be underlined that the data shows that 22.2 million of Türkiye's population of 85.4 million as of 2023, in other words, 26%, are children. This striking figure is more than the population of many European countries. Türkiye has a significantly higher child population than the EU-27 average (18.0%, 2023). Although the rate of children has decreased from 48.5% in the 1970s to 26% by 2023, this still constitutes a significant rate. Thus, Türkiye needs to invest heavily in welfare infrastructure for children and youth.

Net schooling rate

Undoubtedly, when it comes to infrastructure for children and youth, the first welfare policy area that comes to mind is education. It is seen that Türkiye has made significant progress in the last decade in terms of the infrastructure of schooling and education services, and the net schooling has notably increased. According to the formal education statistics of the Ministry of National Education, the number of students attending formal education in the 2022-2023 academic year across Türkiye was 19.9 million. Some 51.6% of these students are male students and 48.4% are female.

It is seen that the 5-year-old net schooling rate at the preschool education level increased from 81.6% in the 2021/22 academic year to 85.0% in the 2022/23 academic year. The net schooling rate at the primary school level is 93.8% in the 2022/23 academic year, while the net schooling rate at the secondary school level is 91.2%. With these rates, Türkiye is the country with the best indicators in this respect in the Islamic world.

School completion rate

In addition to schooling, it is also important to look at school completion and graduation rates at various educational levels. In this context, when school completion rates are examined by education level and gender, according to the results of the National Education Statistics Database, an increase is observed over the years.

While the primary school completion rate was 98.4% in the 2017/18 academic year, this rate is recorded as 98.5% in the 2022/23 academic year. Likewise, while the secondary school completion rate was 90.2% in the 2017/18 academic year, this rate has increased to 96.3% in the 2022/23 academic year. The secondary education completion rate also significantly increased from 65.1% to 80.3%.

Yet, whether this high level of schooling rates and graduation rates is reflected in the quality of education is the subject of another debate. There is still a need to invest in educational infrastructure at a very high rate compared to the country's gross domestic product (GDP), especially to improve the quality of education in public educational institutions. It is difficult to say that Türkiye's success in school enrolment and graduation rates is reflected in academic indicators such as PISA Scores due to the largely rote-learning structure of the education system.

Special education needs

The number of students attending formal education in private education institutions, which serve individuals requiring special education (individuals with hearing, visual, orthopedic and mild mental disabilities), employ specially trained personnel and implement developed educational programs, are over 507,000 as of 2023 across Türkiye. Despite this rate being a noteworthy rate, considering that the rate of disability in Türkiye is 6.9%, according to TurkStat's 2021 data, it is possible to infer that only one-third of individuals requiring special education have the opportunity to attend school.

Students receiving special education constitute 2.6% of students in formal education. Of the students attending private and formal education, 63.3% are male and 36.7% are female. At this point, it is noticeable that among the individuals requiring special education, girls are unproportionally excluded from the education system.

It is also necessary to look at the disability status of children with special education needs. According to the 2022 results of the Türkiye Health Survey, in line with the statements of families, children in the 2-14 age group seem to have the most difficulties in learning and walking, with 1.5%. It is observed that 1% of children in the same age group has difficulty speaking, 0.8% in seeing and 0.4% in hearing.

Labor data

According to TurkStat's Household Labor Force Survey 2023 results, the labor force participation rate of children in the 15-17 age group is 22.1%. When the labor force participation rate is examined by gender, it is seen that this rate is 32.2% for boys and 11.5% for girls.

Although child labor is seen as an area challenged by the International Labor Organization (ILO), it should be noted that there is a cultural difference in perception in this field in Türkiye. This is so, as a significant portion of working children work outside of education periods (in the summer). Likewise, since the apprenticeship system, which has a widespread origin in Turkish history, requires training apprentices and journeymen to start from an early age, the participation of children in business life and acquiring a profession in a way that does not interfere with their educational life and socio-psychological development stands out as an important cultural phenomenon in Türkiye. Thus, in the Turkish cultural apprenticeship system, child labor is not a form of exploitation but a form of social protection.

Especially in today's Türkiye, where blue-collar workers and the number of skilled handicraft workers is quite low, special attention should be paid to children receiving practical skills training and vocational training at an early age. To put it more clearly, it is necessary to approach the phenomenon of "child labor" by paying attention to the cultural subtleties without falling into the trap of the ILO's wholesale approach.

Child marriages

A significant challenge in terms of the socio-economic status of the child in Türkiye is in the field of child marriages. Thanks to the measures taken in recent years and widespread public awareness activities, it seems that significant progress has been made in this field.

According to marriage statistics, while the rate of official marriages of girls in the 16-17 age group in total official marriages was 7.3% in 2002, this rate has decreased to 1.9% in 2023. On the other hand, while the rate of official marriages of boys in the same age group in total official marriages was 0.5% in 2002, this rate decreased to 0.1% in 2023.

This data, contrary to the general wisdom, is a strong indication that significant success was achieved in the field of child marriages during the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) governments and that social culture has changed.

Children under protection

Another issue that should be taken into consideration in terms of the child's status is the situation of children who are orphans or whose parents are divorced. According to TurkStat data, in 2023, among the 22.2 million child population, the number of children whose fathers have passed away is recorded as 263,757, and the number of children whose mothers have passed away is 82,291. It is seen that the number of children whose parents have passed away is 5,461.

Likewise, according to data from the Ministry of Family and Social Services, the number of children under institutional care in Türkiye in 2023 is 14,435. The current number of foster families is 8,164, and the number of children cared for by foster families is 9,806. The number of children adopted is registered as 637 in 2023. These are quite low figures for a country with 85 million population. These latest data reveal that there is significant progress to be made in adoption and foster care.

Of course, divorce is another phenomenon that has important consequences for the status of children. According to data, 171,000 Turkish couples divorced in 2023. As a result of finalized divorce cases, 171,213 children were given into custody. The custody of three out of every four children is given to their mothers due to a cultural phenomenon.

Data on child health

In my previous article, I explained that significant progress has been made in health services for children in Türkiye in the last two decades. After the Health Transformation Program of 2003 and the General Health Insurance System of 2012, appropriate progress has been achieved in infant and child mortality areas.

According to the 2022 results of TurkStat’s National Health Survey, when the types of diseases seen in children in the last six months are examined, upper respiratory tract infections are most common in the 0-6 age group with 31.3%. This is followed by diseases such as diarrhea with 29.4%, lower respiratory tract infection with 6.9% and anemia with 6.7%.

Looking at the death and cause of death statistics, it is seen that the most child deaths in the 1-17 age group in 2022 are due to external injuries and poisoning. The number of children in the 1-17 age group who lost their lives due to this reason is 1,275 in 2022. Eight hundred sixty-six children have died due to nervous system and sensory organ diseases, 635 children have been killed due to benign and malignant tumors, and 385 children have died due to circulatory system diseases.

It should be noted that despite the progress in health services, health problems that can affect the physiological development of children are still common, especially in regions with low socio-economic development and low-income families.

Although Türkiye is an aging country, its child rate is 26%, well above the EU-27 average (18%). This data shows that Türkiye still has a 10-15-year window of opportunity against the aging crisis. However, taking advantage of this opportunity requires strengthening infrastructure services such as education and health care for children and young people and establishing child protection systems. In this context, continuing investments in infrastructure for children and youth to use the potential of Türkiye's young population in terms of entrepreneurship, labor and scientific production emerge as a crucial issue of national interest.