Turkey's fertility rate down in 2021, still above EU average

Turkey's fertility rate continued to fall last year, when 1.08 million new births were registered, down from 1.1 million in 2020, official data revealed on Thursday.

According to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), 51.3% of the babies born last year were boys and 48.7% were girls.

Last year, the fertility rate was 1.7%, while it was 1.76% in 2020 and 2.38% in 2001.

However, Turkey's overall fertility rate was higher than the EU's average of 1.5%.

"Total fertility rate means that the average number of live births that a woman would have under the assumption that she survived to the end of her reproductive life which is 15-49 age group and had a child according to a given age specific fertility rate," TurkStat said.

In another press release on Thursday, the statistical authority said the average household size decreased to 3.2 in 2021, from 3.3 in 2020 and 4 in 2008.

"The proportion of one-person households, which consist of a person who lives alone, increased to 18.9% in 2021 from 13.9% in 2014," it added.