Cevdet Yılmaz: Turkey is the 5th country with the highest decrease in fertility rate in the last 10 years.

28.01.2026 17:18

Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz stated, "We are at a demographic crossroads. Our fertility rate, which was 2.08 in 2017, is currently at 1.48, well below the world average of 2.25 as of 2024. With this rate of decline, we are the 5th country in the world with the largest decrease in fertility rate over the last 10 years."

The Population Policies Council convened at the Presidential Complex under the chairmanship of Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz. The meeting was attended by Minister of Family and Social Services Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş, Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek, Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç, Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin, and representatives from relevant institutions and organizations.

THE POPULATION POLICIES COUNCIL MET

Vice President Yılmaz stated that they aim to create a common ground that will guide action plans by making evaluations in a broad framework extending from current data on family and population structure to demographic transformation topics. Yılmaz said: "Following our first council meeting held on January 9, 2025, a technical meeting was held in April with the participation of our deputy ministers, and in July, we held our second council meeting at the ministerial level."

In these meetings, we had the opportunity to comprehensively address the current situation of population policies and evaluate the steps that can be taken in the short, medium, and long term. Within the council, we established special working groups on legislation, working life, health, economic incentives, education, communication, and raising awareness, and designated coordinating institutions for each working group.

In this context, detailed studies were carried out for the creation of the action plan with the participation of all relevant public institutions, in addition to our Ministry of Family and Social Services, which is responsible for the secretariat services of our council, as well as the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, the Ministry of Health, the Presidency of Strategy and Budget, and the Presidency of Communication, based on working groups. Activities on our action plan are being carried out meticulously in our working groups."

"NEW WORKING MODELS ARE ON OUR AGENDA"

Cevdet Yılmaz, who stated that many concrete steps have been taken to protect the population structure during the past year, continued his remarks as follows: "In this context, our project aimed at facilitating the establishment of families by our youth has been expanded nationwide, and the support amounts have been increased. As of January 2026, the amount of our support has been increased to 250,000 lira for our youth aged 18-25 and 200,000 lira for our youth aged 26-29."

Under the Century Housing Project, which we recently launched with 500,000 housing units, we provided special opportunities for our youth and families with three or more children to become homeowners. Within the project, 20% of the quota has been allocated to our youth aged 18-30 and 10% to families with three or more children. With the regulation we made in 2025, we increased the one-time birth assistance payment to 5,000 TL. We set the amount at 1,500 TL per month for the second child and 5,000 TL per month for the third and subsequent children. The assistance for the second and third children continues until the children reach school age.

"WE CONTINUE TO TAKE STEPS TO FACILITATE CHILDCARE"

We continue to take steps to facilitate childcare by ensuring a balance between work and family life for mothers and fathers. The Regulation on the Use of Part-Time Working Rights for Civil Servants was published last year. New working models that allow women to maintain their work and family life continue to be on our agenda. At the same time, we are carrying out comprehensive studies to expand nurseries across the country, starting from our public institutions.

In this context, with the official letter sent from the Presidency General Secretariat to public institutions and organizations, efforts to increase the capacities of nurseries and daycare centers and to activate new ones have been prioritized. We see the expansion of safe and quality care environments for our children as one of our top priorities.

"THE NEXT 10 YEARS WILL BE A CRITICAL PERIOD"

Yılmaz stated that demographic changes deeply affect all countries and have become a global issue, emphasizing, "We can see more clearly the importance of the determined approach adopted by our country centered on strong families and a strong population. Indeed, changes in family and demographic structure directly affect many areas, from social security systems to care services. On the other hand, we can only protect children, youth, the family institution, and the population structure against the digital and global risks we face today with a holistic approach and a multidimensional policy set.

From this perspective, I would like to emphasize the extreme importance of acting with long-term and comprehensive strategies in our population policies. The declaration of the years 2026-2035 as the 'Decade of Family and Population' by our esteemed President is a clear expression of this strategic approach. Thus, the next 10 years will be a critical period in which permanent steps will be taken to further strengthen the family institution, which is the foundation of society, and to protect our dynamic and young population structure.

"OUR GOAL IS TO DEVELOP THE FAMILY INSTITUTION"

By implementing legal and institutional regulations that will enable us to protect the family institution and population structure more effectively, we will continue to lay solid foundations for the future of our country centered on strong families and a strong population. Our main goal is to protect and develop the family institution, which is the building block of our society, and our young and dynamic population with a holistic understanding. We stand by our families at every stage, from our youth's decisions to establish families to our parents' processes of raising children. Under the leadership of our Ministry of Family and Social Services, we are also strongly bringing these policies to the international agenda.

"WE ARE THE 5TH COUNTRY WITH THE HIGHEST DECREASE IN FERTILITY RATE"

Cevdet Yılmaz, stating that Turkey is number one in Europe with a population exceeding 86 million, continued: "We are at a demographic crossroads. Our fertility rate, which was 2.08 in 2017, is at 1.48, well below the world average of 2.25 as of 2024. With this rate of decline, we are the 5th country in the world with the highest decrease in fertility rate over the last 10 years. This point reached today clearly shows how vital an early warning and strategic foresight the call for 'at least 3 children' made by our esteemed President 20 years ago was.

"THE FERTILITY RATE OF 3 CHILDREN AND ABOVE IS ONLY IN OUR CITY ŞANLIURFA"

On the other hand, as of 2024, the proportion of the elderly population in our country has reached a historically high level of 10.6, while in some of our provinces, this rate exceeds 20%.

"THE DECREASE IN THE YOUNG POPULATION RATE WILL DIRECTLY AFFECT MANY AREAS"

If the current scenario continues, projections indicate that a significant portion of our population will consist of individuals aged 65 and over in the near future. The decrease in the young population rate and the increase in the elderly population rate is a matter that will directly affect many areas, including our social security and care systems. On the other hand, this issue is central to our country's development journey, which aims for enrichment through aging. The concept of 'demographic opportunity window,' which refers to the period when the total dependent population is less than half of the working-age population, is of great importance in this regard. If current trends continue, the sharp decline in fertility rates may cause this window to close much earlier than the expected year of 2035.

In this context, supporting fertility and family formation is a vital necessity for us to achieve our economic leap without losing our population dynamism. This situation also clearly highlights the need for much stronger policies in the fields of aging and active aging. In this context, we continue to see our population policies as 'an existential issue,' as stated by our esteemed President. With a holistic approach centered on the family and the joint efforts of all our institutions, we are determined to carry out this process with a spirit of full mobilization. "