Life expectancy in Türkiye rises to 78.5 years, official data shows

Life expectancy at birth in Türkiye increased to 78.5 years in the 2023-2025 period, up from 78.1 years a year earlier, according to official data released Wednesday.

The figures, published by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) in its latest life tables, show life expectancy at birth at 75.9 years for men and 81.1 years for women, giving women an average longevity advantage of 5.2 years.

The report also found that life expectancy increases with educational attainment, with people holding higher levels of education expected to live longer than those with lower educational qualifications.

Among 30-year-olds, the gap in remaining life expectancy between people with less than an upper secondary education and those with tertiary education was 5.1 years for men and 4.6 years for women, according to the data.

A 15-year-old in Türkiye is expected to live an additional 64.7 years on average, including 62.1 years for males and 67.3 years for females.

For people aged 30, average remaining life expectancy was 50.3 years -- 47.8 years for men and 52.7 years for women.

At age 50, remaining life expectancy averaged 31.3 years, while a 65-year-old could expect to live another 18.4 years on average. Women aged 65 are expected to outlive men by 3.3 years.

The report also estimated healthy life expectancy at birth -- defined as the number of years a person is expected to live without health conditions that limit daily activities -- at 58 years.

Healthy life expectancy was estimated at 59.1 years for men and 56.9 years for women, indicating that men are expected to spend 2.2 more years in good health than women, despite having a shorter overall life expectancy.