School life expectancy in Türkiye drops to 17.9 years in 2023: TÜİK

ANKARA

Türkiye’s school life expectancy (SLE), the estimated amount of time that a primary school-aged person in Türkiye will likely spend in school until they reach their highest level of education, was calculated to be 17.9 years in 2023, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) have shown.

This figure marked a 1.3 percent decrease from the previous year, as the number corresponded to 18.2 years in 2022.

Based on TÜİK data on school life expectancy for 2023, the estimated length of time a person of primary school age would likely spend in school until they finish upper secondary education was also calculated at 12.3 years.

Istanbul had the highest school life expectancy rate with 20.3 years among the country’s 81 provinces. The northern province of Karabük followed the country’s megacity with 19.7 years while the figure was calculated at 19.6 years in the capital Ankara.

On the other hand, the eastern city of Muş and the southeastern city of Şırnak, with 14.9 years of education each, emerged as the provinces with the lowest school life expectancy rate. The eastern city of Ağrı and the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa followed the two eastern provinces with 15.1 years, with the southeastern province of Mardin coming in fifth place with 15.8 years.

The northern province of Gümüşhane had the highest rise in the school life expectancy rate between 2019 and 2023 with 8.3 percent.

At 4.6 percent, the southeastern city of Hakkari trailed Gümüşhane, while the eastern province of Van took the third place with 2.5 percent.

The school life expectancy rate in 2023 for women marked a 0.3 percent increase from the previous year, calculated at 18.4 while the same figure witnessed a 2.8 percent decrease for men compared to 2022 and stood at 17.6 years.