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The average number of years of education for people aged 25 and over in Türkiye reached 9.6 in 2025, up from levels recorded at the start of the previous decade, based on national education statistics from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK).
The data spans 17 years and examines literacy rates, higher education completion, and regional differences across the country.
For people aged 25 to 34, the percentage with a higher education degree increased to 45.6% in 2025, up from 13.5% in 2008. Women in this group saw the largest increase, rising from 12.5% to 50.3%. This rate was higher than for men, whose share went from 14.6% to 41% during the same years.
Among everyone aged 25 and over, 26.1% had at least an associate, bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degree in 2025, up from 9.8% in 2008. The share who finished secondary school or higher also increased significantly, from 26.5% to 50.5%.
When set against figures from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Türkiye's 2024 higher education attainment rate among 25-to 34-year-olds was 44.9%, compared to the OECD average of 48.7%. South Korea had the highest rate among OECD countries at 70.6%, while Mexico had the lowest at 29.1%.
Data from different provinces show that educational attainment still varies across Türkiye. Ankara had the highest average years of schooling for people aged 25 and over at 10.9 years, followed by Istanbul, Eskisehir, Kocaeli, and Yalova. On the other hand, Agri had the lowest average at 7.6 years, with Sanliurfa, Mus, Kastamonu, and Van also among the lowest.
From 2016 to 2025, most of the provinces with the biggest increases in average years of schooling were in the southeast and east. Sirnak had the highest rise at 48.5%, followed by Hakkari at 40.4%, Mus at 35.7%, Sanliurfa at 35.5%, and Van at 33.1%. Provinces like Ankara, Eskisehir, Tekirdag, Izmir, and Istanbul, which already had higher averages, saw smaller increases between 13.2% and 15.1%.
For people aged 6 and over, the literacy rate increased from 91.8% in 2008 to 97.9% in 2025. The gap between men and women has also gotten much smaller. For women, literacy rose from 86.9% to 96.4%, and for men, it increased from 96.7% to 99.3%.
TuIK data shows a strong link between parents' education and their children's achievements. Of those aged 25 and over whose mothers finished higher education, 84.2% also earned a higher education degree, 13.1% finished secondary school, and 2.7% did not reach that level. When fathers had completed higher education, 80.4% of their children did as well.
This pattern is also seen at lower levels of parental education, but the effect is smaller. For people whose mothers finished secondary school, 64.3% had a higher education degree. If mothers had not finished secondary school, only 29.4% of their children had a higher education degree.
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