Turkey Has 21 Million Children – “Alp Arslan” Tops Baby Boy Names

According to the Turkish Statistical Institute’s annual report, the number of children in Turkey has reached 21,817,061, which makes up about 25.5% of the country’s total population.

The data shows that Şanlıurfa had the highest percentage of children among all provinces last year, with 43.8% of its population being kids. It was followed by Şırnak at 39.8%, and then Ağrı, Mardin, and Muş, each with 37.4%.

On the flip side, provinces with the lowest percentage of children were Tunceli with 16.4%, Edirne with 17.3%, and Kırklareli at 18%.

In 2023, there were a total of 26,599,261 households in Turkey. Out of those, 42.8% had at least one child aged between 0 and 17.

Again, Şanlıurfa came out on top here too, with 68.5% of families having children – the highest rate in the country. Meanwhile, Tunceli had the lowest percentage at 28.2%.

Here’s a breakdown of families based on how many kids they have:

• 19% have one child

• 14.6% have two

• 6% have three

• 2% have four

• 1.1% have five or more kids

According to the Turkish Ministry of Health, hospital births increased from 91.6% in 2010 to 97.5% in 2023.

However, the pentavalent vaccine (DPT + IPV + Hib) coverage slightly dropped – from 99.5% in 2022 to 98.8% in 2023.

Most Popular Baby Names

When it comes to baby names, “Alp Arslan” was the most popular name for boys, given to 8,088 newborns. It was followed by “Göktuğ” with 5,683, and “Yusef” with 4,880.

As for girls, “Dafnah” was the top choice with 7,466 baby girls given that name. “Aseel” came second with 7,347, followed by “Zeynep” with 6,540.