Turkey’s population hits 79.81 million people, increasing over one million

ISTANBUL

AFP photo

Turkey’s population saw an increase of over one million compared to last year, reaching 79,814,871 people, the Turkish Statistics Institute announced on Jan. 31.

According to 2016 results from the records of Address Based Population Registration System, males made up 50.2 percent of the total population and females made up 49.8 percent.

The annual population growth rate increased to 13.5 per 1,000 in 2016 from 13.4 per 1,000 in 2015.

The proportion of those who are residing in provincial and district centers also increased to 92.3 percent in 2016 from 92.1 percent, while the proportion of the population living in small towns and villages was just 7.7 percent, according to the results.

The most populated province in the country was Istanbul with 14,804,116 inhabitants, making up 18.5 percent of Turkey’s population. 

Istanbul was followed by the capital Ankara with 5,346,518 inhabitants, the Aegean province of İzmir with 4,223,545 inhabitants, the northwestern province of Bursa with 2,901,396 inhabitants, and the southern resort province of Antalya with 2,328,555 inhabitants. 

The least populated province of the country was the eastern province of Tunceli with 82,193 inhabitants.
The median age of Turkey’s population increased to 31.4 in 2016 from 31 in 2015. The median age was 30.8 for males and 32 for females. 

Provinces with the highest median ages were Sinop with 39.6, Balıkesir with 39.1, and Edirne with 38.8 respectively. Provinces with the lowest median ages were Şanlıurfa and Şırnak with 19.5, Ağrı with 20.5, Siirt with 20.8.

According to the TÜİK figures, the proportion of the population in the 15-64 working age group increased by 1.6 percent, becoming 68 percent in 2016. The proportion of children aged between 0 and 14 dropped to 23.7 percent and the proportion of the population aged 65 and over increased to 8.3 percent.

The population density, which is the number of people per square kilometer, increased by two persons compared to 2015, reaching to 104 in 2016. The province with the highest number of people per square kilometer was Istanbul with 2,849 people, followed by Kocaeli with 507, İzmir with 352, and Gaziantep with 290. 

Tunceli had the smallest population density with 11 people per square kilometer, followed by Konya with 56 and Yalova with 285.