UPDATE - Turkey's fertility rate drops in 2018

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's fertility rate reached 1.99 children in 2018, remaining below the population's replacement level of 2.10, said the country's statistical authority on Friday.

Last year's total fertility rate, the average number of live births that a woman would have during her reproductive period, was down from 2.07 in 2017, according to TurkStat ahead of World Population Day on July 11.

TurkStat projected the current downward trend in fertility rates would continue in the future to become 1.85 by the year 2050.

"The world's fertility rate, which was 4.8 in 1969, decreased to 2.5 today," it added.

The figure was at 1.7 in developed countries and 3.9 in less developed countries, according the institute.

Women in the 25-29 age group had the highest age specific fertility rate last year, with the number of live births of 128 per thousand.

The average age of women who gave birth was 28.9 in 2018, while it was 28.7 in 2017 and 26.7 in 2001.

The number of live births stood at 1.25 million in 2018, down 3.6% year-on-year.

More than half of the babies born were boys -- 51.3%.

"...1.6% of women in 2018 gave multiple births, 97.6% of these women had twins, 2.3% had triplets, and 0.1% gave quadruplet and more births," it said.

Turkey's population was 82 million at the end of last year, according to TurkStat.