OCK Key Statistics 

Turkey is a country with a high child population – 1 in 4 individuals is a child, and at least 1 child lives in almost half of the households. 

  • Children make up 26% of Turkey’s population – the total child population is 22.2 million (TurkStat, 2023).
  • 43.6% of households have at least one child aged 0-17 (TurkStat, 2023).

Approximately 10% of the age population does not continue their education.

  • Net schooling rates are 85.0% for preschool – 93.8% for primary school – 91.2% for secondary school – 91.7% for high school (2022-2023 Formal Education Statistics).

1 out of every 3 children is poor.

  • 31.3% of children (more than 7 million children) are poor and 33.3% live in severe material deprivation (TÜİK, 2023).
  • 9.3% of children live in households with no employees (TÜİK, 2022).

A large number of children work as labourers; most of the registered workers are in the service sector.  

  • 4.4% of children (720 thousand children) are engaged in economic work (TÜİK, 2019).
  • Among working children, 45.5% work in the service sector, 30.8% in agriculture and 23.7% in industry (TurkStat, 2019).

One out of every 4 women was married as a child. 

  • 24.2% of women and 4.4% of men were married before the age of 18 (Family Structure Survey, 2021).

Child sexual abuse is one of the most serious causes of victimization for children.

  • In 2022, 13.7% of children brought to security units as crime victims (approximately 32 thousand children) were victims of sexual offenses (Statistics on Children Arriving and Brought to Security Units).
  • In 2023, 69,773 people were prosecuted for sexual abuse of children and 26,144 people were prosecuted for sexual intercourse with a minor (Justice Statistics).

Physical abuse is a common punishment method used by parents. 

  • Among punishment methods used by mothers, 26.2% report slapping, 14.3% beating and 8.1% locking in a room (Family Structure Survey, 2016).
  • Among punishment methods used by fathers, 37.5% report slapping, 25.6% beating and 9.5% locking in a room (Family Structure Survey, 2016).