At least 94 children died in Turkey while working in 2025, the highest figure since 2013, according to a new report by the Health and Safety Labor Watch (İSİG).
The group said the toll had risen about 32 percent from the previous year.
İSİG reported that deaths were concentrated in cities, a shift from earlier years when rural areas saw the most fatalities. By sector, 31 children died in agriculture, 27 in industry, 16 in construction and 20 in services, the report said.
By age, İSİG found that 26 of the workers were younger than 14, below Turkey’s legal working age, and 68 were between the ages of 15 and 17, many of them participating in state-run vocational programs or school internships.
The group linked the trend partly to the expansion of Vocational Education Centers (MESEM), a state-run apprenticeship track that places students in workplaces four days a week. İSİG estimates about 505,000 students are in MESEM and says the program “legitimizes cheap labor.” The group has documented at least 15 student deaths linked to MESEM and seven more during school internships over the past two years.
Under Turkish law, the minimum age for regular employment is 15, though children as young as 14 may take “light work” under certain conditions. Apprenticeship and vocational training schemes, such as MESEM, are allowed from age 14. In contrast, international labor standards set by the United Nations and the International Labour Organization define anyone under 18 as a child and classify many forms of employment before that age as child labor, particularly when the work is hazardous or interferes with schooling.
Opposition MP Sezgin Tanrikulu, a lawmaker from the Republican People’s Party (CHP), on Monday, called for parliament to open an investigation into child labor and child workplace deaths. He said the problem cannot be explained by individual family choices or isolated cases of negligence.
Tanrikulu said child labor has become a structural issue driven by poverty, informal employment and weak public oversight. He said child worker deaths should not be treated as accidents.
