Half of Türkiye’s households have no children, minister warns amid falling birth rates
ANKARA
Family and Social Services Minister Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş has raised alarm over Türkiye’s declining birth rates, describing the issue as a “matter of national survival,” as data shows half of the country’s households now have no children.
According to official projections, the number of primary school-aged children in Türkiye will drop by 900,000 over the next five years, Göktaş noted.
“Many of the challenges we face stem from the weakening of the family institution,” she said.
Göktaş defended the government’s decision to declare 2025 as the “Year of the Family,” saying it had faced “discrediting and disinformation campaigns.”
She criticized attempts to pit the concept of family against women’s rights, stressing that “those who glorify one while undermining the other are in fact weakening both.”
The minister said individualism and social isolation are on the rise and warned that Türkiye’s population decline could not be explained by economic factors alone.
“This issue cannot be reduced to income levels or employment rates. Around the world, countries are taking measures to strengthen families,” she said, adding that Türkiye, too, must approach the matter beyond ideological divides.
Türkiye’s fertility rate has fallen steadily in recent years, reaching well below the replacement level. The government has rolled out various incentives, including financial support for new parents, in an effort to reverse the trend.
