Turkey is a country that often boasts of its youthful population, but this advantage may not last long. According to the Turkish Statistics Institute, the country’s elderly — aged 65 and above — numbered 6.5 million in 2015, or 8.2% of the total population, up from 8% in 2014. Globally, elderly people make up 8.5% of the world’s population. So, Turkey is not that young, having an elderly rate close to the global average. Though it could hardly compare with nations such as Monaco, Japan and Germany, where senior citizens make up, respectively, 30.4%, 26.6% and 21.5% of the population, Turkey still ranks 66th among 167 countries in this category.

Only 11.5% of senior citizens participate in the labor force, which clearly demonstrates that the elderly are rarely employed. Shut out from productive life, they are in a sense left to await death, which brings about low spirits along with health problems.

In 2015, 45.6% of Turkey’s senior citizens were satisfied with their general health, down from 47.5% the previous year, which is another indication that idle lifestyles are not good for the elderly.

To address the problem and encourage senior citizens to be more active in working and social life, Akdeniz University in the Mediterranean city of Antalya has inaugurated an education program called Renewal University, targeting people over the age of 60. The program, which offers courses in sociology, psychology, biology, technology, chemistry, agriculture, pharmacology, medicine, history, philosophy, maintenance and cooking, takes aim at the cognitive renewal of these students. After launching a trial run with 60 students in May 2015, the university has attracted considerable interest, with enrollment exceeding 300.