In the 2022–2023 academic year, almost 2.1 million kids finished their preschool education, however, this figure stood at 1.9 million the following year.

Similarly, around 6.7 million pupils graduated from high school in the 2022–2023 academic year while this number was 5.7 million in the last academic year.

The data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜIK) indicate that the country’s fertility rate has been gradually declining, albeit slowly, since 2014. This decline might be the core reason for the decline in the number of preschoolers.

However, an utterly different scenario emerges for the decline in high school students, as expert Coşkun Bayrak highlighted that there are three possible reasons for this sharp downfall.

The first of one these reasons, according to Bayrak, is that students begin their working lives earlier as a result of the nation’s current economic circumstances.