The number of certificated female athletes in Turkey has increased 25 times in the last 18 years, which constitutes 33.8% of the total number of certified sports athletes in the country.

According to the data by the General Directorate of Sport Services, while the number of licensed sports athletes in Turkey stands at 5.1 million, the number of licensed female athletes has reached 1.8 million.

The evaluation was made within 62 federations. Out of the 62 federations, the number of certified female athletes outperformed men in such sports as horseback riding, ice skating, gymnastics, dance sports, folk dances and volleyball.

Chess, as a sport branch ranked first with 293,630 female athletes within the Turkish Chess Federation, volleyball with 192,858 and taekwondo with 166,079 ranked after chess. Athleticism with 91,329 took fourth place, while folk dancing with 86,565 came in fifth place.

The Turkey E-Sport Federation, established in 2018, stood in last place with 53 certified female athletes.

According to the data, the number of certified female athletes increased since 2002 from 66,356 to 1.7 million.