According to data published by Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), Turkey has made considerable progress in improving the quality of life of its citizens over the last two decades. Notwithstanding, Turkey performs well in only a few measures of well-being relative to most other countries in the Better Life Index. Turkey ranks above the average in civic engagement. It ranks below average in income and wealth, health status, social connections, education and skills, jobs and earnings, subjective well-being, environmental quality, work-life balance, housing and personal security. These rankings are based on available selected data.

Money, while it cannot buy happiness, is an important means to achieving higher living standards. In Turkey, the average household net-adjusted disposable income per capita is lower than the OECD average of USD 33 604 a year.

In terms of employment, 52% of people aged 15 to 64 in Turkey have a paid job, below the OECD employment average of 68%, and one of the lowest figures in the OECD. Some 71% of men are in paid work, compared with 32% of women. In Turkey, 33% of employees work very long hours, the highest rate in the OECD where the average is 11%. About 36% of men work very long hours compared with 25% of women.

Good education and skills are important requisites for finding a job. In Turkey, 39% of adults aged 25-64 have completed upper secondary education, much lower than the OECD average of 78% and one of the lowest rates among OECD countries. This is truer of men than women, as 43% of men have successfully completed high-school compared with 35% of women. In terms of the quality of the educational system, the average student scored 425 in reading literacy, maths and science in the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), lower than the OECD average of 486. On average in Turkey, girls outperformed boys by 9 points, more than the average OECD gap of 2 points.

In terms of health, life expectancy at birth in Turkey is 78 years, two years lower than the OECD average of 80 years. Life expectancy for women is 81 years, compared with 75 for men. The level of atmospheric PM2.5 – tiny air pollutant particles small enough to enter and cause damage to the lungs – is 20.0 micrograms per cubic meter, much higher than the OECD average of 13.9 micrograms per cubic meter. Turkey also performs below the OECD average in terms of water quality, as only 65% of people say they are satisfied with the quality of their water, below the OECD average of 81%, and the lowest rate in the OECD.

Concerning the public sphere, there is a moderate sense of community and high levels of civic participation in Turkey, where 86% of people believe that they know someone they could rely on in time of need, less than the OECD average of 89%. Voter turnout, a measure of citizens’ participation in the political process, was 86% during recent elections. This figure is higher than the OECD average of 68% and reflects the practice of compulsory voting in Turkey. Voter turnout for the top 20% of the population is an estimated 89% and for the bottom 20% it is an estimated 84%, a much narrower gap than the OECD average gap of 13 percentage points, and suggests there is broad social inclusion in Turkey’s democratic institutions.

In general, Turks are less satisfied with their lives than the OECD average. When asked to rate their general satisfaction with life on a scale from 0 to 10, Turkish people gave it a 5.5 grade on average, much lower than the OECD average of 6.5.

Source: Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) / link: http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/turkey/
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Female life expectancy at birth is 80.7 years
According to life tables, 2015 results; life expectancy at birth is 78 years at total, 75.3 years for males and 80.7 years for females. In general, females live longer than males and the difference in life expectancy at birth is 5.4 years.

Illiterate female population is 5 times more than illiterate male population
In Turkey, while the proportion of total illiterate population in 25 and over age groups is 5.4%, this proportion is 1.8% for male population and 9% for female population in 2015.

While the proportion of high school and equivalent graduates in 25 and over age groups is 19.5%, this proportion is 23.5% for males and 15.6% for females. The proportion of total higher education graduates is 15.5%, this proportion is 17.9% for males and 13.1% for females.

Selected indicators by sex, 2015 

Female employment rate was less than half of male employment rate
According to household labor force survey results; in Turkey the employment rate of population aged 15 and over was 46%; this rate was 65% for males and 27.5% for females in 2015.

When the employment rates in member countries of the European Union were analyzed, it was seen that Sweden had the highest employment rate for females with 74% and Greece had the lowest employment rate for females with 42.5% in 2015. The average employment rate for females in European Union countries (28 countries) was 60.4%.

In member countries of the European Union, Netherlands had the highest employment rate for males with 79% and Greece had the lowest employment rate for males with 59.3% in 2015. The average employment rate for males in European Union countries was 70.8%.

Labor force participation rate of educated females is higher
According to household labor force survey results; in Turkey, labor force participation rate of population aged 15 and over was 51.3%, this rate was 71.6% for males and 31.5% for females in 2015.

When labor force participation rate by education status was investigated, it was seen that the higher education status of females, females participated more to labor force. The labor force participation rate was 16.1% for illiterate females, 26.6% for females who graduated from school less than high school, 32.7% for females who graduated from high school, 40.8% for females who graduated from vocational high school and 71.6% for females who graduated from higher education.

Every 4 out of 5 males found it appropriate for females to work
According to family structure survey, 2016 results; the proportion of individuals who approved females’ working was totally 84.9%, the proportion of males who approved it was 78.1% and the proportion of females who approved females’ working was 91.5%.

When the proportions of individuals who approved females’ working was analyzed by Statistical Regions (SR) Level 1, the highest proportion was in TR3 Aegean (İzmir, Aydın, Denizli, Muğla, Manisa, Afyonkarahisar, Kütahya, Uşak) with 90.6% and the lowest was in TRC South East Anatolia (Gaziantep, Adıyaman, Kilis, Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır, Mardin, Batman, Şırnak, Siirt) with 71.5%.

Females who graduated from higher education earned more income
According to income and living conditions survey results; while working females who graduated from higher education had average annual main job income as 29 thousand 238 TL, working females who graduated from high school had average annual main job income as 16 thousand 124 TL in 2015. Females who didn’t complete any school had average annual main job income as 8 thousand 528 TL.

34.3% of the first marriages was realized between the ages of 20-24 in females
According to family structure survey, 2016 results; when the first marriage ages declared in the survey by individuals aged 15 and older and who experienced marriage was analysed, it was seen that first marriages mostly took place between the ages of 20-24 with 37.5% in Turkey. While the proportion of males who married for the first time in the 20-24 age group was 41.3%, this proportion was 34.3% for females.

In the case of conflict, spouses reacted with shouting to each other mostly
According to family structure survey, 2016 results; in the case of conflict between the spouses, 75.3% of males and 66.2% of females reacted with shouting/raising their voices to their spouses mostly. 55.1% of males and 64.2% of females remained silent in the case of conflict. 3.6% of males and 2.4% of females used physical violence to their spouses when they were in conflict.

According to Statistical Regions (SR) Level 1, the highest proportion of using physical violence to spouses was highest in TRC South East Anatolia (Gaziantep, Adıyaman, Kilis, Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır, Mardin, Batman, Şırnak, Siirt). In this region 8.6% of males, 7.5% of females used physical violence to their spouses.

The proportion of males’ using physical violence was lowest in TR3 Aegean (İzmir, Aydın, Denizli, Muğla, Manisa, Afyonkarahisar, Kütahya, Uşak) with 1.7%, this proportion for females was lowest in TR4 East Marmara (Bursa, Eskişehir, Bilecik, Kocaeli, Sakarya, Düzce, Bolu, Yalova) with 0.7%.

Household chores and responsibilities were shared with paying regard to sex
According to family structure survey, 2016 results; it was observed that while females did continuous house works like cooking, dishwashing, laundering, cleaning the house and ironing, males did works which had apparency and definite beginning and ending like repairing, painting the house, paying the bills.

Throughout Turkey, cooking was done by females with the proportion of 91.2%, by males with 8.8%. Painting the house was done by males with the proportion of 80.4%, this proportion was 19.6% for females.

Married males and females are happier
According to life satisfaction survey results; the proportion of individuals who declared themselves as happy was 61.3% in 2016. While the level of happiness was 58.1% for males, it was 64.5% for females. It was seen that 64.7% of married individuals, 57.3% of individuals who never married, 50.9% of widowed individuals and 32.5% of divorced individuals were happy.

60.8% of married males, 68.3% of married females declared themselves as happy. While 54.5% of males who never married and 62.1% of females who never married were happy, 29% of divorced males and 35.5% of divorced females were happy. It was seen that 53.1% of widowed males and 50.5% of widowed females were happy.

Level of happiness by marital status, 2016

About 4 out of every 10 females felt insecure in their own neighborhood
According to life satisfaction survey results; while the proportion of the individuals who felt insecure when they were walking alone at night in their own neighborhood was 26.2% totally, this proportion was 15.2% for males and 37% for females in 2016. 71% of males and 47.5% of females felt themselves secure in their own neighborhood.

The proportion of the individuals who felt insecure when they were alone at home was 7.9% in total, this proportion was 4.5% for males, 11.2% for females. 86.7% of males, 76% of females felt themselves secure when they were alone at home in 2016.

Deaths caused by diseases of the circulatory system took first place
According to causes of death statistics results; among the causes of death cases in 2015, diseases of the circulatory system were in the first place with 40.3%, neoplasms were in the second order with 20% and diseases of the respiratory system were in the third order with 11.1%.

When the causes of death cases were examined by sex, for females diseases of the circulatory system were in the first place with 44.3%, neoplasms were in the second order with 15.5% and diseases of the respiratory system were in the third order with 10.1%. For males the sequence of the death causes is similar with the females, diseases of the circulatory system were in the first place with 36.8%, neoplasms were in the second order with 23.9% and diseases of the respiratory system were in the third order with 11.9%.

Females participated less in political life than males
While the proportion of female deputies was 4.5% in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in 1935, this proportion has increased to 14.7% after 81 years. The total number of ministers in 2016 in Turkey is 27 and the number of female ministers is only 1. While the proportion of female mayors in local governments was 0.9% in 2009 local elections, this proportion was 2.9% in 2014 local elections. While the proportion of female head of quarters was 2.3% in 2009 local elections, this proportion was 2% in 2014 local elections.

Legal Notice: The information in this article is intended for information purposes only. It is not intended for professional information purposes specific to a person or an institution. Every institution has different requirements because of its own circumstances even though they bear a resemblance to each other. Consequently, it is your interest to consult on an expert before taking a decision based on information stated in this article and putting into practice. Neither MuhasebeNews nor related person or institutions are not responsible for any damages or losses that might occur in consequence of the use of the information in this article by private or formal, real or legal person and institutions.

Proportion of elderly population by age group, 2012, 2016

In 2016, 8.7% of the world population was elderly population. The three countries that had highest proportion of elderly population were Monaco with 31.3%, Japan with 27.3% and Germany with 21.8%, respectively. Turkey was in the 66th rank among 167 countries.

Life expectancy increased
According to the 2015 life tables, life expectancy at birth is 78 years at total, 75.3 years for men and 80.7 years for women in Turkey. In general, women live longer than men and the difference in life expectancy at birth is 5.4 years.
In Turkey for persons at 65 years old, the average remaining life span is 17.8 years for total, 16.1 years for males and 19.4 years for females. In other words, for persons at 65 years old, women are expected to live 3.3 years more than men on average.

Life expectancy by sex and age, 2015

Elderly dependency ratio was 12.3% in 2016
Elderly dependency ratio means that the number of elderly persons per hundred persons in working age. While the elderly dependency ratio was 11.1% in 2012, this ratio increased to 12.3% in 2016.

Province with the highest proportion of elderly population was Sinop
The province that had the highest proportion of elderly population was Sinop with 18.1% in 2016. This province was followed by Kastamonu with 16.5% and Çankırı with 15.4%. The provinces that had the lowest proportion of elderly population was Şırnak with 3.2%. This province was followed by Hakkari with 3.3% and Van with 3.6%.

Number of centenarians was 5 thousand 232
The number of centenarians which constituted 0.1% of elderly population was 5 thousand 232 in 2016. While the first three provinces that had the highest centenarians were İstanbul (680 persons), Şanlıurfa (237 persons) and Ankara (219 persons), the first three provinces that had the lowest centenarians were Ardahan (2 persons), Bilecik (4 persons) and Bayburt (7 persons).

Proportion of educated elderly population increased
While the proportion of illiterate elderly population was 29.2% in 2011, it decreased to 21.9% in 2015. It was seen that the proportion of illiterate elderly female population was four times higher than that of elderly male population. While the proportion of illiterate elderly female population was 32.6% in 2015, this proportion was 8.2% for elderly male population.
When the level of education of elderly population was examined, it was seen that while 39.4% of elderly population was primary school, 4.1% of them was junior high school or equivalent/primary education, 4.5% of them was high school or equivalent, 4.1% of them was higher education graduates in 2011, these proportions increased to 43% in primary school, 5.2% in junior high school or equivalent/primary education, 5.6% in high school or equivalent and 5.4% in higher education graduates in 2015.
When the level of education of elderly population was examined by sex, it was seen that there was a significant difference between sexes. It was seen that the proportion of the elderly male population was higher than that of female population at all levels of education.

Proportion of widowed elderly males was 12.7%, elderly females was 50.4%
When elderly population was examined by legal marital status, it was seen that there was a significant difference between sexes. While 1.1% of elderly male population was never married, 83.3% of them was formally married, 2.9% of them was divorced and 12.7% of them was widowed, it was seen that 2.4% of elderly female population was never married, 44% of them was formally married, 3.3% of them was divorced and 50.4% of them was widowed in 2016.

76.7% of the elderly population living alone was females
According to the results of Address Based Population Registration System, the proportion of one person elderly households was 5.4% in total households and 36% in total one person households in 2016. 22.5% of the total households had at least one elderly person. The proportion of elderly population living alone was 23.3% for males and 76.7% for females.
The province that had the highest proportion of one person elderly households in total households was Sinop with 11.1% in 2016. This province was followed by Burdur with 10.7% and Çankırı with 10.4%. The province that had the lowest proportion of one person elderly households in total households was Hakkari with 1.2%. This province was followed by Van with 1.8% and Şırnak with 1.9%.

Elderly poverty rate increased
According to the results of income and living conditions survey, while poverty rate calculated by using 60% of equalised household disposable median income was 22.6% for Turkey, this rate was 21.9% in 2015.  While poverty rate for elderly population was 17% in 2011, this rate increased to 18.3% in 2015.
When the poverty of the elderly population was examined by sex, it was seen that while the poverty rate for elderly male population was 15.9% in 2011, this rate increased to 17.8% in 2015. While the poverty rate for elderly female population was 17.9% in 2011, this rate increased to 18.6% in 2015.

Labour force participation rate was 11.9% for elderly population
According to the results of household labour force survey, while the labour force participation rate for 15 years and over was 51.3%, this rate was 11.9% for elderly population in 2015. Also, this rate was 19.9% for elderly male population and 5.8% for elderly female population. The unemployment rate of elderly population was 2.4%.

72.8% of employed elderly population was in agricultural sector
According to the results of household labour force survey, when the sectoral distribution of employed elderly population was examined, it was seen that elderly population was employed in agricultural sector with 72.8% and services sector with 20.4% in 2015.

Number of elders benefiting from the old-age assistance was 620 thousand 19
According to the records of the Ministry of Family and Social Policies, in accordance with the Law No. 2022 on the “Providing Old-Age Assistance to Poor, Weakness and Homeless Turkish Republic People Who Completed 65 Years Old” the number of beneficiaries Who were found to be in need was 620 thousand 19, while the proportion was 9.3% in total elderly population in 2016. The average annual amount of benefit made per the elderly was 2 thousand 548 TL.

One of the both elderly people was satisfied from their general health status
According to the results of life satisfaction survey, while the proportion of elderly people who declared that they were satisfied from their general health status was 43.1% in 2012, this proportion increased to 45.3% in 2016. While the proportion of elderly male people who declared that they were satisfied from their general health status was 53%, this proportion was 39.4% for elderly female people in 2016.

Elderly people died from circulatory system diseases mostly
According to the causes of death statistics, 46.3% of elderly people lost their lives from circulatory system diseases in 2015. This was followed by neoplasm diseases with 16.5% and respiratory system diseases with 13%.
When the causes of death were examined by sex, it was seen that the most important difference between sexes was in neoplasm diseases. The proportion of elderly male people died  from neoplasm diseases was about twice as high as that of elderly female people. While the proportion of elderly male people died from neoplasm diseases was 21.5%, this proportion was 11.6% for elderly female people.

Number of elderly people who died from Alzheimer’s disease doubled
According to the causes of death statistics, while the number of elderly people who died from Alzheimer’s disease was 6 thousand 155 in 2011, it increased to 11 thousand 997 in 2015. While the proportion of elderly people who died from Alzheimer’s disease was 2.9% in 2011, this proportion increased to 4.3% in 2015.
When the proportion of elderly people who died from Alzheimer’s disease was examined by sex, it was seen that there was an increase in both sexes. While the proportion of elderly people who died from Alzheimer’s disease was 2.4% for males and 3.4% for females in 2011, these proportions increased to 3.5% for males and 5.2% for females in 2015.

The proportion of elderly people who were always or frequently visited by their children was 71.7%
According to the results of family structure survey, elderly people who did not live in the same household with their children, were always or frequently visited by their children with the proportion of 71.7% in 2016. The proportion of elderly people sometimes visited by their children was 20%, and rarely or never visited was 8.3%.

40.2% of elders declared that they want to coresidence with their children
According to family structure survey, when they are so old that they could not care themselves, the proportion of elders who want to coresidence with his/her children was 40.2%, the proportion of elders desiring to get home care service was 38.6% and the proportion of elders desiring to go nursing home was 7.7% in 2016. The proportion of the elderly people who did not have any idea was 12.9%.

Not to be a burden on children was the most important reason for desiring to stay in the nursing home of elderly people
According to the results of family structure survey, the most important reason for desiring to stay in the nursing home of elderly individuals was that they do not want to be a burden on his/her children with 48.9% when they are so old that they could not care themselves in 2016. The second important reason was that facilities in nursing home are more comfortable with 20.2% and the third important reason was that his/her children might not like to coresidence with them with 11.2%.

Reasons for considering nursing home as a future life preference in elderly people, 2016

Proportion of elderly people who declared themselves as happy increase
According to the results of life satisfaction survey, while the proportion of elderly people who declared themselves as happy was 56.8% in 2015, this proportion increased to 64.5% in 2016. When the general level of happiness was examined by sex, 66.2% of elderly males and 63.2% of elderly females declared themselves as happy.

Source of happiness for elderly people was their families with 64.2%
According to the results of life satisfaction survey, the most important source of happiness for elderly people was their families with 64.2% in 2016. The second source of happiness for elderly people was their children with 18.1%.

Proportion of elderly people using Internet increased by 2.5 times
According to the results of information and communication technology usage survey in households and by individuals, while the proportion of elderly people using Internet in the 65-74 age group was 3.6% in April 2012, this proportion increased to 8.8% in April 2016. When the elderly people using Internet were examined by sex, it was seen that males used Internet more than females. While the proportion of elderly males using Internet was 12.5% in 2016, the proportion of elderly females was 5.8%.

Legal Notice: The information in this article is intended for information purposes only. It is not intended for professional information purposes specific to a person or an institution. Every institution has different requirements because of its own circumstances even though they bear a resemblance to each other. Consequently, it is your interest to consult on an expert before taking a decision based on information stated in this article and putting into practice. Neither MuhasebeNews nor related person or institutions are not responsible for any damages or losses that might occur in consequence of the use of the information in this article by private or formal, real or legal person and institutions.