Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has released a report that claims a quarter of the country’s young population is interested in settling in other countries, the T24 news website reported on Thursday.
The report was published on the occasion of the centenary of May 19, 1919, a date officially commemorated in Turkey every year as “Youth and Sports Day.”
It indicated that one out of four young individuals aims to move abroad for better employment opportunities, more individual freedom and higher quality education.
These young Turks are unable to envisage a future for themselves in their country, which they think lacks freedom of thought and is “heading south,” the report said.
Youth unemployment was noted as another problem as the government agency for official statistics announced a 26.7 percent jobless rate for the 15-24 age group in January 2019, a figure that was 19.9 percent in the same month of last year.
A total of 27.2 percent of the 15-to-29 age group in Turkey are neither working nor going to school, roughly twice the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD average of 13.4 percent.
Another finding is that unemployment is higher among graduates of institutions of higher learning compared to those with a lower level of education.
According to the World Economic Forum, Turkey ranked 99th out of 137 countries in quality of education in 2018, below countries such as Qatar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Iran and Pakistan.