National Education Statistics, 2022

The National Education Statistics Database (NESD) was created in 2008 by combining the education information obtained from individuals during the Address-Based Population Registration System (ABPRS) studies with the information obtained from administrative records. NESD was used to calculate the educational status of Turkish citizens aged 6 and over, based on their place of residence, sex and age.

Furthermore, the indicator of 'mean years of schooling', which holds significant international importance, is presented for the first time in this press release as an official statistic for the years 2011-2022. The mean years of schooling represent the average education duration of the population aged 25 and over. It is used in studies such as the Human Development Index (HDI), Gender Development Index and Multidimensional Poverty Index calculated by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

While the rate of associate degree, bachelor's degree, master's degree and doctorate degree aged 25 and over in the total population aged 25 and over was 9.8% in 2008, this increased to 23.9% in 2022. While the rate of those who graduated from primary school and over in the mentioned age group was 81.1% in 2008, this rate was calculated as 92.5% in 2022.

Mean years of schooling for the population aged 25 and over increased by 26% from 7.3 years in 2011 to 9.2 years in 2022. In 2022, mean years of schooling for women were 8.5 years, while for men it was 10.0 years.

Gender parity index which represents the ratio of female to male values of mean years of schooling, increased from 0.78 in 2011 to 0.84 in 2022, showing an increase each year.

In 2022, the city with the highest mean years of schooling for the population aged 25 and over was Ankara with 10.6 years, followed by İstanbul, Eskişehir, Kocaeli and Izmir. On the other hand, the city with the lowest average years of schooling was Ağrı with 7.2 years, followed by Şanlıurfa, Van, Muş and Kastamonu, respectively.

For the years 2011-2022, the top five provinces with the highest increase in mean years of schooling for the population aged 25 and over were Şırnak with 65.1%, Hakkâri with 53.9%, Bingöl with 51.9%, Muş with 48.1% and Van with 46.5%. On the other hand, the top five provinces with the lowest increase were Ankara with 18.2%, Tekirdağ with 20.5%, Eskişehir with 20.8%, Istanbul with 21.5% and Yalova with 21.6%.

While the rate of literate people aged 6 and over was 91.8% in 2008, this rate was calculated as 97.6% in 2022. Between 2008 and 2022, the literacy rate for women increased from 86.9% to 95.9%; and for men, this rate increased from 96.7% to 99.3%.

The province with the highest literacy rate was Antalya with 99.0%, followed by Çanakkale, İzmir, Muğla and Denizli in 2022. On the other hand, the province with the lowest literacy rate was Mardin with 93.6%, followed by Şanlıurfa, Siirt, Ağrı and Iğdır, respectively.

Şırnak, Hakkâri, Van, Siirt and Muş were the top five provinces where the literacy rate showed the highest point increase between 2008 and 2022. The first five provinces with the lowest increase were Eskişehir, Ankara, Yalova, İstanbul and Bilecik, respectively.

The provinces with the highest literacy rate among women in 2022 were Antalya and Çanakkale with 98.4%, followed by İzmir, Denizli and Muğla. On the other hand, the province with the lowest literacy rate among women was Mardin with 89.0%, followed by Şanlıurfa, Ağrı, Siirt and Iğdır, respectively. There was no significant difference in the literacy rate among men across the provinces in Türkiye.