Size of Turkish families continues to shrink: TÜİK

ISTANBUL

The average household size in Turkey, which was four people per household in 2008, 3.48 in 2016 and 3.35 in 2019, has continued to follow a declining trend and fell to 3.30 people per household in 2020, according to the results of Address Based Population Registration System (ABPRS) announced by the country’s statistical institute, TÜİK.

“The province with the largest average household size was the southeastern Şırnak with 5.75 persons per household in 2020,” said TÜİK in a statement on May 6.

According to the results of ABPRS, Şırnak was followed by other southeastern provinces of Şanlıurfa, with 5.25 people per household, and Hakkari, with 5.16 people per household.

The province with the smallest average household size was the northwestern province of Çanakkale, with 2.61 persons per household, following the eastern province of Tunceli, with 2.66 people per household, and the Central Anatolian province of Eskişehir, with 2.68 people per household.

“The proportion of one-person households and multi-person no-family households increased,” according to the statement.

The rate of a person who lives alone increased from 13.9 percent in 2014 to 17.9 percent in 2020, TÜİK said.

“An increase was seen in the proportion of multi-person no-family households in which members are not related to each other as couples, parent or child,” it added.

The proportion of these households increased from 2.1 percent in 2014 to 2.8 percent in 2020.

On the other hand, the proportion of one-family households and extended-family households decreased in Turkey in 2020.

The rate of one-family households, defined as households comprising a couple without children or a couple with at least one child or a lone parent with at least one child, decreased from 67.4 percent in 2014 to 65.2 percent in 2020.

Also, the rate of the households covering at least one nuclear family household with non-family members decreased to 14 percent in 2020 from 16.7 percent in 2014.

The province with the highest proportion of one-family households was the Mediterranean province of Osmaniye at 72.6 percent in 2020, followed by two other southeastern provinces of Gaziantep and Adıyaman, at 72 percent and 71.9 percent respectively.

The Central Anatolian province of Kayseri shared the same rate with Adıyaman, becoming fourth.

The province with the lowest proportion of one-family households was the eastern province of Tunceli at 53.7 percent, followed by the Blacksea provinces of Gümüşhane and Artvin at 54.8 percent and 55.6 percent, respectively.

An Interesting result came to the fore regarding the proportion of lone parents with at least one resident child in total households, which was 9.7 percent in 2020.

After a detailed analysis, it was found that 2.2 percent of total households were lone fathers with at least one resident child while 7.5 percent were lone mothers with at least one resident child.

The province with the highest proportion in this category was the eastern province of Bingöl, at 11.7 percent in 2020, followed by the southern province of Adana and the eastern Malatya at 11.5 percent.

The provinces with the lowest proportion were the two eastern provinces of Bitlis and Ardahan at 7.1 percent, following the Black Sea province of Tokat at 7.2 percent.

The southeastern province of Hakkari tops the list of the provinces with the highest proportion of extended-family households in 2020 at 24.4 percent, followed by the two southeastern provinces of Şırnak and Batman, while Eskişehir is at the bottom of the list at only 9 percent.

TÜİK also listed the rate of marriages in various provinces.

The proportion of the individuals aged 16 and above who were married to their first cousins in their last marriage within total legal marriages was 8.4 percent.

The southeastern province of Mardin was the province with the highest number of individuals married to their relatives at 20.6 percent. The province with the lowest rate in this category was Edirne, the northwestern city on the Greek border, at 1.1 percent.

According to the results, “family” was the main source of happiness for individuals. People who stated that being in a family made them happier was 69.7 percent.

The survey showed that 12.3 percent of one-person households, 20.3 percent of one-family households, 27.7 percent of extended-family households and 14.1 percent of multi-person no-family households lived below the relative poverty threshold.

“The proportion of the individuals living in their own house was 58.8 percent,” the statement said.