Turkey’s elderly population rising, says report

ISTANBUL - Doğan News Agency

AA Photo

The proportion of elderly people in Turkey increased to 8 percent of the overall population in 2014, and is expected to surpass 10 percent by 2023, according to data released by the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) on March 18.

The percentage of the Turkish population over the age of 65 rose from 7.7 percent in 2013 to 8 percent in 2014, amounting to 6,194,000 people, TÜİK announced.

Population projections state that the proportion of Turkey’s elderly population will rise to 10.2 percent by 2023, 20.8 percent by 2050, and 27.7 percent by 2075.

The elderly proportion of the world’s population was 8.3 percent in 2014. Monaco had the highest proportion at 29.5 percent, followed by Japan and Germany at 25.8 percent and 21.1 percent respectively.

Turkey came in 94th out of 228 countries in 2014, with an elderly population exceeding the total populations of Denmark, Slovakia, Finland, Norway, Ireland and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Of the 6,194,000 people aged over 65 in Turkey, 43.6 percent are men and 56.4 percent are women.
The province with the highest proportion of elderly people was Sinop, with 17.6 percent. Another northern province, Kastamonu, was second with 16.5 percent, while the Central Anatolian province of Çankırı was third place with 15.3 percent.

The lowest rates of elderly people were found in the southeastern provinces of Hakkari with 2.9 percent, Şırnak with 3.0 percent, and Van with 3.4 percent.

Meanwhile, some 5,283 people in Turkey were over 100 years old in 2014. Istanbul topped the list for the highest number of people over 100 years old with 651 people, while the southeastern province of Ardahan only had two centenarians.