The Çorum fertility rate of 1.22 is below the Turkish average. What the figures mean, the psychology of deciding on children and life in one-child families.
The answer a couple gives to the question "Are you thinking about a second one?" is no longer just a matter for that household; it is also a piece of data that says something about a city's future. According to sources that compile TÜİK (Turkish Statistical Institute) data at provincial level, the Çorum fertility rate fell to 1.22 in 2025. The Turkish average that year was 1.42, while the level needed for a population to replace itself is roughly 2.1 children per woman. In other words, a woman of childbearing age in Çorum today would be expected to have, on average, only slightly more than one child over her lifetime. In this article we look at what this figure tells us and what it does not, the possible social factors behind it, and how the decision to have children is experienced in a couple's inner world.
Çorum Fertility Rate: What Do the Figures Say?
The total fertility rate is the average number of children a woman would have over her childbearing years (ages 15–49) if she experienced that year's age-specific fertility rates. It is not a personal prediction; it is a snapshot of a single year.
The key figures for Çorum are:
- Total fertility rate: 1.22 in 2025. In Turkey it was 1.42; the lowest value in the country was in Bartın, at 1.09.
- Ten years earlier: According to the 2015 Social Analysis of Çorum Province by the Central Black Sea Development Agency (OKA), the rate in 2014 was 1.97 in Çorum and 2.17 in Turkey. So the decline is not unique to Çorum, but Çorum is running slightly ahead of the national trend.
- Number of births: 3,931 babies were born in Çorum in 2025. The crude birth rate was 7.6 per thousand, compared with 10.4 per thousand in Turkey.
- Child population: The share of the 0–14 age group in the population is 16.6% (Turkey 20.4%). According to news reports citing the TÜİK Samsun Regional Office, this age group shrank by 2,701 people in a single year.
- Median age: 41.3, compared with 34.9 in Turkey.
There is a striking point here: marriage is not declining. According to local news reports citing TÜİK's 2025 Marriage and Divorce Statistics, the crude marriage rate in Çorum is 6.22 per thousand, very close to Turkey's 6.43. The average age at first marriage, 28.2 for men and 25.8 for women, is also slightly below the national average. So low fertility does not seem to be explained by "people are not getting married".
The limits of the data
A few points are worth keeping in mind when reading these figures. Çorum's fertility value is not taken directly from TÜİK's provincial table but from a secondary source that compiles TÜİK data by province, so small discrepancies are possible. The total fertility rate is also affected by migration: when young people of childbearing age move out of the province, their children are recorded in another province's statistics. Finally, a single year's value can fluctuate; it would not be right to draw firm conclusions about a trend from one year alone.
A Sociological Reading: Why Is the Çorum Fertility Rate Low?
It is not possible to attribute fertility in a province to a single cause. The data do, however, point to several possible factors that need to be considered together.
Migration and age structure
For many years Çorum has been a province with net out-migration. According to OKA's 2015 report, out-migration is most concentrated in the 20–24 age group. Young people who leave for Ankara or Istanbul to study or find work often go on to start families there as well. The population that remains, meanwhile, is steadily ageing: the proportion of people aged 65 and over is 17.87%, well above the Turkish average of 11.1%.
Smaller households, changing families
The average household size in Çorum is 2.71 people (Turkey 3.08). Nuclear family households make up 61.6% and extended family households 12.5%. A shrinking extended family means less of the old "someone at home will look after the child" support. Grandparents often live in a different house, sometimes in a different district or village.
The economy and expectations for the future
The cost of living, rent, school expenses and the question "Will I be able to give my child a good future?" are among the main issues shaping decisions about children in Çorum, as everywhere in Turkey. In this sense, falling fertility is not an indicator of "unwillingness" but more often an indicator of "caution". It should also be noted that this interpretation has not been confirmed by research specific to Çorum; it is based on factors generally known in the field.
The direction of care is changing
In Çorum, the number of older people per 100 people of working age (27.3) has now overtaken the number of children (25.3). In Turkey the picture is the reverse: the child dependency ratio is 29.7 and the old-age dependency ratio around 16. This points to a period in which, in many families, the middle generation has to care for a young child and ageing parents at the same time. It may be an understandable response for young couples who sense this care burden in advance to find "making do with one child" more realistic.
Is falling fertility a loss?
Declining fertility is often discussed in public in the language of "alarm". Yet the same picture may also show that families are making more conscious decisions about the number of children, that time spent in education is getting longer and that women's life plans are becoming more varied. From a psychological point of view, what matters is that this change does not turn into guilt or a sense of inadequacy for individuals. A province's population trend is not a bill that individual families have to pay.
A Psychological Reading: The Inner World of Deciding on Children
Figures show a trend, but every couple's decision is their own. In clinical experience, the feelings most often heard when people are considering having a child, or a second child, include:
- Financial anxiety: The thought "We can barely manage with one child" may sometimes be a realistic assessment, and sometimes a picture enlarged by anxiety.
- Guilt: Parents of an only child may blame themselves for "leaving their child without a sibling".
- Outside pressure: Remarks such as "One child isn't really a family" or "Don't let them grow up alone" often come from older relatives or the wider circle. However well-meant, these words can put intense pressure on a couple.
- Differences between partners: When one partner wants a second child and the other does not, and it is not talked about, this can turn into a silent resentment.
- Physical and emotional exhaustion: Especially for mothers who have carried most of the care of the first child alone, the idea of "starting again" can feel heavy.
Let us imagine a couple in their thirties who hear about a "sibling" for their four-year-old daughter again at every bayram visit (the family visits made during Turkey's religious holidays). One partner does not feel financially ready; the other feels anxious that "time is passing". The more the subject is raised, the bigger the argument; the more it is avoided, the lonelier they both become. The problem here is less the number of children than the fact that the decision cannot be discussed together and openly.
Another common situation is that the decision keeps being postponed. "Let's buy a house first", "let things settle a little", "let the child start school"... and years can go by. Postponement is sometimes healthy planning; sometimes it is a way of escaping the anxiety the decision brings. The way to tell the two apart is to look at the feeling behind the postponement: do you feel relief, or a sense of tightness every time the subject comes up?
The number of children is not a measure of success; it is a decision a family makes within its own circumstances.
Parenting in One-Child Families
The fall of the fertility rate in Çorum to 1.22 means that one-child families are becoming increasingly common. There are some widespread beliefs about only children: "they'll be spoilt", "they won't learn to share", "they'll be lonely". Research shows that these stereotypes are generally not supported, and that parental attitudes and the social environment matter more to a child's development than the number of siblings. You can read about this in more detail in our article on the psychology of the only child.
Some points worth paying attention to in one-child families:
- Creating a peer environment: Cousins, neighbours' children, preschool and school friends, sports or arts activities can partly provide the experience of sharing and compromise that a sibling relationship offers.
- Balancing the weight of expectations: An only child can become the bearer of all the family's hopes. The message "We do everything for you" is a heavy responsibility for a child.
- Avoiding overprotection: Anxiety about an only child can make it harder for the child to take age-appropriate risks and learn to manage on their own.
- Thinking long term: In an ageing province like Çorum, today's only children may tomorrow take on the care of their elderly parents without siblings. This is a reminder not to burden the child today, but to have realistic conversations within the family about the future.
Practical Suggestions for Couples and Families
If you are at the point of making a decision about having children or about how many, the following steps may make things easier:
- Take the decision out of "yes or no". First talk about why each of you wants or does not want it. The answer to "Why?" is often more illuminating than the decision itself.
- Make the anxiety concrete. Put the feeling of "it won't be enough" on the table with a budget, a care plan and a timeline. Anxiety grows in uncertainty and shrinks with concrete information.
- Review your support network. Assess realistically from whom, and how much, support you can get with childcare. Grandparents' help is valuable, but their health and limits also need to be taken into account.
- Separate out the outside voices. The views of older relatives, neighbours or friends can be information; the decision belongs to the two of you. Setting this boundary in a kind but clear way protects your relationship.
- Keep your existing child out of the process. Asking a young child whether they "want a sibling" can place on them a responsibility they cannot carry.
- Talk about timing too. Postponing a decision is also a decision. Saying "Let's talk about it again in a year" makes uncertainty manageable.
If you are expecting a baby or have recently become parents, our writing on becoming a new parent may also help you understand this transition.
When Should You Seek Professional Support?
The decision to have children is something every couple naturally thinks about, and most of the time it does not require professional support. In some situations, however, talking to a mental health professional can be helpful:
- If, whenever the subject comes up, arguments repeatedly get stuck at the same point and affect the overall atmosphere of your relationship
- If intense fears about having a child (childbirth, being unable to parent, harm coming to the child) are restricting your daily life
- If a previous pregnancy loss, a difficult birth or difficulties after a birth resurface when facing a new decision
- If you feel caught between pressure from older relatives and your own wishes, and find it hard to set boundaries
- If a long-standing sense of reluctance, unhappiness or hopelessness is getting in the way of the decision
These signs do not in themselves mean a diagnosis; they may simply show that you are at a point where talking could do you good.
How Is the Decision to Have Children Addressed in Therapy?
Therapy will not give you the answer to "How many children should you have?". The aim is for you to be able to make the decision in line with your own values and circumstances, with less anxiety and more open communication.
In the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) approach, automatic thoughts such as "I can't be a good parent" or "My child will be unhappy without a sibling" are noticed and weighed up together with the evidence. Work is done on the catastrophising or "all or nothing" thinking patterns that feed anxiety.
A schema therapy perspective can help in understanding how this decision connects with a person's own childhood experiences. For example, someone who felt neglected in a large family may want to "give everything to one child", while someone who grew up without siblings may link insisting on a sibling for their child with their own loneliness.
When the decision is the couple's shared agenda, couples therapy creates space for partners to listen to each other without blame and find common ground. It is possible to work through this process together in face-to-face sessions in Çorum or online.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the Çorum fertility rate lower than Turkey's?
There is no single reason. Young people migrating out of the province, an ageing population, shrinking households and financial worries can be counted among the possible factors. The fact that the marriage rate is close to Turkey's suggests that the decline may be more to do with the number of children within marriage.
Does raising an only child harm the child?
Research shows that only children generally do not have more difficulties than children with siblings. What makes the difference is the parents' attitude, the child's opportunities to spend time with peers and the balance of expectations within the family.
My partner and I can't agree on how many children to have. What can we do?
Try first to talk not about the decision itself but about each other's reasons. If conversations keep turning into arguments, sessions with a neutral professional can make communication easier.
How can I cope with pressure from people around me saying "one child isn't enough"?
Preparing a short, clear answer helps: "We're thinking this through together as a couple." Rather than trying to convince the other person, calmly protecting the boundary wears down neither the relationship nor you.
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Eda Erkan Alapala
Klinik Psikolog. İstanbul Kent Üniversitesi Klinik Psikoloji Tezli Yüksek Lisans mezunu; bilişsel davranışçı terapi, çocuk merkezli oyun terapisi ve çocuk-ergen psikoterapisi alanlarında eğitimlerini tamamlamıştır.
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