Transformative Trends Reshaping Intergenerational Relationships in Turkiye in the Era of Demographic Ageing

As in the world, the elderly population is increasing rapidly in Turkey. The 21st century will be the century of aging of the world. The population aged 65 and over in Turkey increased by 22.6 percent in 5 years and reached 8 million 451 thousand 669 people. The proportion of the elderly population in the total population has exceeded 10.2 percent.With the migration from rural to urban areas, the extended family structure turned into a nuclear family and the number of births per woman decreased to 1.5 in Turkiye. With both migration and family shrinkage, kinship relationships and social support systems have weakened. While elderly people can be cared for in extended families depending on traditional values;social and economic resources become insufficient to care for the elderly in the nuclear family and to maintain intergenerational solidarity. In Turkey, as in the world, the majority of both formal and informal care work is performed by women. Women also have an effective role in directing intergenerational solidarity relations in the family.According to the project of evaluating intergenerational solidarity, which was carried out for the first time in Turkey with 4 thousand 100 people;the strongest dimensions of solidarity for both the elderly and adult children in Turkey are;emotional solidarity and relational solidarity.Medium levels of solidarity dimensions for both the elderly and adult children in Turkey;normative solidarity and consensual solidarity. The lowest form of solidarity provided by the elderly to their children in Turkey is functional solidarity. While the realization rate of functional solidarity, which includes the financial support and care provided by the elderly to their children in Turkey, is 34.2 percent;The realization rate of functional solidarity, which includes the financial support and care provided by children to their elderly parents, is 75.6 percent.In this study,intergenerational solidarity will be evaluated through demographic aging.