Life expectancy at birth reaches 78 years in Turkey

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA

Average life expectancy at birth for Turkish citizens reached 78 years in the 2015-2017 period, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) reported on Wednesday.

Women live longer than men by 5.5 years on an average.

The institute said life expectancy at birth was 75.3 years for men and 80.8 years for women.

"For 15-year-olds, at the minimum age to start working, the average remaining life expectancy was 64.1 -- 61.5 years for males and 66.8 years for females," it said.

Official figures showed that the average remaining life expectancy at age 30 was 49.6 years and at age 50 was 30.5 years.

"In Turkey for 65-year-olds, the average remaining lifespan was 17.7 years -- 16 years for males and 19.2 years for females.

"In other words, for 65-year-olds, women are expected to live 3.2 years more than men on average," TurkStat said.

The institute noted that life tables -- also known as mortality tables -- explain probabilities of mortality and duration of survival at any age of the population in detail.

Making a contribution to the improvement of demographic and social statistics in the country, TurkStat said its objective is to produce reliable, sustainable and updated life tables for Turkey overall and for 81 provinces.