Turkey's Minister of Family and Social Services, Mahinur Ozdemir Goktas, has warned that the country is facing a sharp decline in fertility and school-age children, telling parliament that "50 percent of families have no children".
Speaking before the Turkish parliament's Planning and Budget Committee, Goktas said projections by the Turkish Statistical Institute had shown that the number of primary-school-age children will drop by 900,000 over the next five years.
Goktas warned that the weakening of the family structure was the "root of many social problems", responding to criticism over the government's decision to declare a "Year of the Family".
According to Turkish daily Milliyet, the minister warned that "the population issue is a matter of our country's survival, and 50 percent of households do not have children".
During discussions of her ministry's 2026 budget, Goktas also defended the 'Year of the Family' initiative, saying the announcement had been met with "attempts to discredit and mislead" the public.
She criticised efforts to frame the family as a point of tension in politics, saying: "I do not understand the attempts to create a dispute between the family and women. An approach that elevates one and diminishes the other weakens both. We categorically reject the ideological framing of the family in these terms."
Goktas added that declining birth rates cannot be explained solely by income levels, employment rates or the size of the economy.
"Every country in the world is taking action on this. From Europe to countries that once enforced a one-child policy, serious steps are being taken to protect and strengthen the family. We must treat the family as a global strategic priority," she said.
She highlighted "revolutionary reforms" over the past 23 years aimed at empowering women.
"We have removed taboos and barriers facing women in all areas of life - from education and healthcare to politics and academia, from the justice sector to culture and the arts. Women in this country will not return to the old days of guardianship and restrictions," she said.
Last year, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that declining birth rates had posed an "existential threat" to Turkey's future.
"We are below the population replacement rate of 2.1," Erdoğan told his cabinet, calling the situation "a disaster for Turkey".
The government has introduced a range of incentives to raise the birth rate, including benefits for early marriage, financial support for new parents, low-interest loans for newlyweds, and tax breaks for mothers who retire early after having three children. But the expected rise in fertility has not materialised.
Erdogan frequently calls for the preservation of large, extended families and often criticises practices such as birth control and caesarean sections, which he argues reduce fertility.
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