Türkiye's fertility rate continues to fall in 2022

By Tuba Ongun

ANKARA (AA) – Türkiye's fertility rate decreased for the seventh consecutive year in 2022, reaching 1.62 live births per woman, according to official data released on Monday.

"This showed that fertility remained below the population's replacement level of 2.10," the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said in a statement.

A woman gave approximately 2.19 live births during her reproductive life – 15-49 age – in 2014 and 1.71 in 2021.

The number of live births in Türkiye was just over 1 million, of which 51.4% were boys and 48.6% were girls.

Despite the decline, Türkiye's overall fertility rate was higher than the EU's average of 1.53%

The highest total fertility rate was in the southeastern Sanliurfa province with 3.59 children, while the lowest was in the western Kutahya province with 1.18.

The crude birth rate – the number of live births per thousand population – dropped to 12.2 in 2022 from 12.9 in 2021.

The mean age of the mothers giving birth rose to 29.2 in 2022, while it was at 26.8 for giving birth to the first child.