Turkey's government steps in as birthrates fall

ISTANBUL: Alarmed by the fact that Turkish women are having fewer children, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has moved to tackle falling birthrates — “a threat greater than war” — through policies designed to bring on the babies.

After declaring 2025 Turkey’s “Year of the Family”, Erdogan last month announced 2026 would mark the start of the “Decade of the Family”.

But his pleas for women to have at least three children and offers of financial incentives for newlyweds may not be enough as Turkey grapples with a deepening economic crisis.

Official figures show Turkey’s birthrate has fallen from 2.38 children per woman in 2001 to 1.48 in 2025 — lower than in France, Britain or the United States — in what Erdogan, a 71-year-old pious Muslim and father-of-four, has denounced as “a disaster”.

During his 22 years in office — first as premier, then president — fertility rates have dropped sharply in this country of 85 million people.

Erdogan has blamed both women and LGBTQ “perverts”.

“Women and LGBTQ+ individuals are considered the only culprits for the declining population growth rate, with no acknowledgement of political mistakes,” said retired academic and feminist activist Berrin Sonmez.

“People might be hesitant to have children in this chaotic and uncertain environment. Additionally, child support is almost non-existent and education has become the most expensive sector,” she said.

No education, no jobs

High inflation has raged in Turkey for the past four years, forcing education costs up by more than 70 percent over the past year, official data shows.

In the first quarter, unemployment stood at 8.2 percent, or 15 percent among 15- to 24-year-olds.

Researchers with the DISK union say the real rate is 28.5 percent, and 37.5 percent among young people.

But the government seems bent on fixing other issues, such as Turkey’s record number of elective Caesarean births — which stands at 61 percent, rising to 78 percent in some private hospitals.

In April, Turkey banned C-section births at private healthcare facilities “without a medical justification”.

The procedure generally limits the number of pregnancies to two, or a maximum of three.