'Turkey's young population shows its strength'

The healthy share of young people in Turkey’s population shows the country’s strength and potential in the decades to come, said a major Turkish party leader on Tuesday.

Speaking to his Nationalist Movement Party's (MHP) parliamentary group in the capital Ankara, Devlet Bahceli said Turkey has a population of some 13 million young people age 15-24.

He explained: "15.6% of our population consists of the young people. Turkey's young population rate is much higher than the young population of EU countries. This picture is basically clear evidence of our potential and comparative and strategic strength."

Dismissing the demographic categories of generations X, Y, Z, Bahceli said, "We do not analyze them in this way," adding that soon other letters of the alphabet would be needed, and there would be no end to this.

In 2019 Turkey's youth boasted 15.6% of the population, inching down 0.2% percentage points on a yearly basis, according to the country's statistical authority.

But the young population is projected to drop in the coming decades, down to 14.8% in 2023, and later to 11.1% in 2080.

Turkey’s president has encouraged married couples to have at least three children to avoid Turkey’s population growing older.