Turkey's birth rate falls to 1.1M in 2020

By Yunus Girgin

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey's birth rate has continued to fall, with the country's statistical authority announcing on Tuesday that nearly 1.12 million new births were registered in 2020, down from 1.18 million the year before.

According to TurkStat, 51.3 % of babies born last year were boys, while 48.7 % were girls.

Last year, the birth rate was 1.76% and it was 1.88% in 2019, indicating that the ratio remained below the population's replacement level of 2.10%, according to TurkStat.

The birth rate was 2.38% in 2001 and steadily decreased until it reached 1.76% in 2020, the data showed.

However, the country's overall birth rate was stated higher than that of 27 EU member countries. The highest overall birth rate in 2019 was 1.86% in France, while the lowest was 1.14% in Malta.

According to the data, women's peak fertility ages of 20-24 in 2001 migrated to an older age group in 2020, namely age 25-29. This meant that the peak years of women's fertility were held to an older age.

Sanliurfa had the highest overall birth rate in 2020, with 3.71%, followed by Sirnak with 3.22%, Agri with 2.88%, and Siirt with 2.88% – all provinces in Turkey's east or southeast. The province with the lowest overall birth rate was Karabuk in the Black Sea region with 1.29%, followed by Zonguldak (Black Sea) and Kutahya (Western Turkey), both with 1.31%.