Average household size falls in Turkey

Turkey's average household size fell to 3.35 persons last year from 3.69 in 2012, the country’s statistical authority said on Wednesday.

One-person households in the country increased to 16.9% in 2019 from 13.9% in 2014, noted TurkStat.

Meanwhile, extended-family households dropped to 15% in 2019 from 16.7% in 2014.

It was observed that the proportion of multi-person and no-family households rose to 3% in 2019, being 2.1% in 2014.

The ratio of one-family households dropped to 65.1% in 2019, from 67.4% in 2014.

One-family households are defined as households comprised of a couple without children, a couple with at least one child, or a single parent with at least one child.

Marriages between first cousins showed a steady decline to 4% in 2019 from 5% in 2014, and 5.9% in 2010.

An overwhelming majority of people, 74%, said their families made them happiest in 2019.

"While the percentage of men who mentioned that their families made them happiest was 79.5%, this statistic was 68.8% for women," it indicated.

Data also showed that 26.9% of extended families lived below the poverty threshold.

Housing and rent took up the largest chunk of expenditure for families with 23.7%.

This was followed by expenditure on food and non-alcoholic beverages and transportation with 20.3% and 18.3%, respectively.

Health expenses ranked lowest with 2.2%, education 2.3%, and entertainment 2.9%.