07.02.2025 13:42
After President Erdoğan declared 2025 as the "Year of the Family," the figures from TÜİK are disheartening. The number of single-person households in Turkey is expected to exceed 5.3 million in 2024, with Istanbul leading the way as the city with the highest number of individuals living alone, totaling 943,363 people. Over the past 10 years, the number of people living alone has increased by 71%.
President Erdoğan has declared the year 2025 as the "Year of Family" and a promotional ceremony related to this has been organized. However, the figures that have come in response to Erdoğan's calls to increase the population are not very encouraging. The latest data shows that the number of people living alone in Turkey is steadily increasing.
According to the information compiled from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) data, the number of "households," which refers to communities living at the same address regardless of whether there is a familial relationship, was determined to be 26 million 599 thousand 261 as of last year. While the number of single-person households in Turkey continues to rise, the number of people living alone reached 3 million 113 thousand 496 in 2015 and 3 million 316 thousand 894 in 2016. The number of single-person households was recorded as 3 million 491 thousand 148 in 2017, 3 million 730 thousand 505 in 2018, and 4 million 62 thousand 576 in 2019.
REACHED STRIKING DIMENSIONS DURING THE PANDEMIC
The increase in the number of people living alone reached striking dimensions during the periods of 2020 and 2021, when the COVID-19 pandemic was effective. In 2020, the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, this number rose to 4 million 404 thousand 997 with an increase of 342 thousand 421. In the last 10 years, the number of single-person households increased the most in 2021, when the effects of the pandemic were still ongoing. In this year, the number of single-person households increased by 376 thousand 603 compared to 2020, reaching 4 million 781 thousand 600.
71% INCREASE IN 10 YEARS
The number of people living alone reached 5 million 67 thousand 331 in 2022 with an increase of 285 thousand 731, and 5 million 192 thousand 825 in 2023 with an increase of 125 thousand 494. Last year, the number of people living alone rose to 5 million 321 thousand 540 with an increase of 128 thousand 715. Thus, in the last 10 years, the number of people living alone has increased by 71%.
On the other hand, according to last year's data, 943 thousand 363 of those living alone resided in Istanbul, 384 thousand 201 in Ankara, 363 thousand 110 in Izmir, 197 thousand 923 in Antalya, and 184 thousand 559 in Bursa. Following Bursa, Adana with 123 thousand 940, Mersin with 119 thousand 750, Balıkesir with 119 thousand 432, Konya with 118 thousand 166, and Kocaeli with 106 thousand 912 were next. Accordingly, the number of single-person households in the 10 metropolitan cities was calculated to be 2 million 661 thousand 356, which accounts for more than half of the people living alone in the country. The provinces with the least number of people living alone were Bayburt with 5 thousand 754, Ardahan with 6 thousand 953, and Hakkari with 8 thousand 91.
According to TÜİK data, the number of single-person households and their changes (2015-2024) are as follows:
| Years | Single-person households | Change |
| 2015 | 3,113,496 | 182,411 |
| 2016 | 3,316,894 | 203,398 |
| 2017 | 3,491,148 | 174,254 |
| 2018 | 3,730,505 | 239,357 |
| 2019 | 4,062,576 | 332,071 |
| 2020 | 4,404,997 | 342,421 |
| 2021 | 4,781,600 | 376,603 |
| 2022 | 5,067,331 | 285,731 |
| 2023 | 5,192,825 | 125,494 |
| 2024 | 5,321,540 | 128,715 |