Derya Yanık, the Minister of Family and Social Services, stated that the Türkiye Ageing Profile Survey will be conducted for the first time and said, "With the research, we aim to reach data that will guide our policies in the field of ageing, such as the rate of ageing in Türkiye, the results related to ageing, and the needs of older persons."

The fourth meeting of the "Academy Meetings", organized by the Ministry of Family and Social Services in order to develop the consultation mechanism with academicians who are experts in their own fields, was held with the theme of "older persons ".

In her speech, Minister Yanık underlined that the Academy Meetings contributed to the formulation of the Ministry's policies, and drew attention to the fact that the fertility rate has decreased worldwide and ageing has increased in parallel.

Pointing out that the changing population structures, rapid changes and transformations brought by the age make it necessary to produce new policies and develop service models, Minister Yanık said, "TUİK (Turkish Statistical Institute) data shows that while the rate of people over the age of 65 in our country was 4.3 percent in 1990, it has increased more to 9 percent in 2021. Considering the increase in the rate of the elderly population in the last 30 years, it is predicted that the rate of the elderly population in Türkiye will increase to 12.9 percent in 2030.”

"The fertility rate fell from 3.1 to 1.7"

Minister Yanık emphasized that we are faced with a similar picture in the fertility rate and continued her words as follows:

"From 1990 to 2021, the fertility rate in Türkiye fell from 3.1 to 1.7. This shows that the fertility rate remained below the population replacement level of 2.10. If the change continues in the same way, the rate of young population is expected to decrease to 14 percent in 2030. Therefore, we have an agenda for the ageing of the population and we need to plan this process from now on."

Noting that life expectancy has increased in the last 20 years in Türkiye due to the developments in health, social services and technology, Minister Yanık said that they evaluated new opportunities to produce policies in line with the requirements of the age, and that they structured their approach to care services by taking this picture into account.

14 thousand older persons receive service from nursing homes affiliated to the Ministry

Emphasizing that it is their basic approach for older persons to continue their active and healthy lives with their families and in the social environment they live in, Minister Yanık said that the institution provides various supports such as long-term care services for older persons in need of care, home care for those who want to live in their own home, day care services and health care support.

Minister Yanık stated that home care allowances were provided to the families of more than 500 thousand persons with disabilities and older persons, and that the Elderly Support Program had been implemented since 2016 and she continued:

"However, in some cases, it is not possible to provide services with families. In such cases, we take older persons to institutional care. Within the scope of Institutional Residential Care Services for Older Persons, we offer world-class care services to all older persons who need care in our nursing homes. There are 167 nursing homes and elderly care and rehabilitation centres with a capacity of 17 thousand, affiliated to our Ministry. About 14 thousand older persons receive service in our centres. We provide services to 12 thousand 275 older persons in our 261 private nursing homes, which are licensed and supervised by our Ministry throughout the country."   

Minister Yanık stated that in 37 daytime organizations affiliated to the Ministry, 538 older persons are provided with day care services to support their active ageing.

Older persons and their families will be supported with SOHEP

Minister Yanık also said that with the "Project for Increasing Access to Social Services" (SOHEP), they aim to provide protective and preventive services to both Turkish citizens and individuals under temporary and international protection, especially children, women, persons with disabilities and older persons.

Stating that they aim to strengthen family unity and contribute to the welfare of older persons by supporting older persons and their caregiving families with the project, Minister Yanık said that in this context, it is planned to open a "Day Care and Active Living Centre" in Adana, Hatay, Şanlıurfa, Mersin, Bursa and Osmaniye, and the opening of the first one was planned. She stated that it was put into service on October 7 in Mersin.

Türkiye’s Ageing Profile Research will be held for the first time

Pointing out that " Yetişkin Gençler Huzur Bocce League Tournaments" were organized for nursing home residents, they expanded "refreshment universities" that allow older persons to receive education at universities within the framework of lifelong learning policies, and they also carried out the Digital Spring Project, Minister Yanık said:

"We are preparing the '2030 Ageing Vision Document' and action plan in order to support active ageing and strengthen the rights of older persons. We will continue to implement our new projects and programs in line with this vision document. It is especially important to realize our policies and services in the field of ageing with an approach based on data disaggregated by age and gender. "There are many studies we have carried out in this context. The Türkiye’s Ageing Profile Research is one of the studies that we will start in the coming days. This research will be conducted for the first time in our country, and we believe that it will be very important to reflect on the future. With the research, ageing in Türkiye, the rate of ageing, results related to old age, we aim to reach data that will guide our policies in the field of ageing, such as the needs of older persons. In line with our national ageing policy, we aim to develop all our services to meet the diverse and changing needs of the population."

Units established within the Ministry

The Minister of Family and Social Services, Yanık, emphasized that the participation of civil society, universities and all other social parties in all these activities are very important and drew attention to the establishment of the Civil Society Cooperation and Project Department within the Ministry in this direction, and the Council for Cooperation with Social Parties.

Reminding that the Academy Meetings, which were held within the framework of the Civil Society Vision Document and the 2022-2023 Action Plan, were previously held with the themes of "empowerment of women", "child" and "family", Minister Yanık emphasized that she believes that today's meeting with the theme of "old age" would also yield fruitful results.