Turkey’s population increased by over 450 thousand people in a year

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The Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), the state agency responsible for producing official statistics on Turkey, has shared the results of the address-based population registration system for 2020.

The results have shown that the population residing in Turkey increased by 459 thousand 365 people compared to the previous year, and reached 83 million 614 thousand 362 people as of December 31, 2020.

Male population was 41 million 915 thousand 985 people and the female population was 41 million 698 thousand 377 people. While 50.1 percent of the total population were males, 49.9 were females.

According to the results of the Address Based Population Registration System, foreign population* residing in Turkey decreased by 197 thousand 770 people and became 1 million 333 thousand 410 people. 49.7 percent of this population were males and 50.3 percent were females.

Annual population growth: 5.5 per thousand

Annual population growth rate decreased to 5.5 per thousand in 2020 from 13.9 per thousand in 2019.

Proportion of the population residing in province and district centers, 92.8 percent in 2019, became 93 percent in 2020. The proportion of the population living in towns and villages decreased to 7 from 7.2 percent.

15 million 462 thousand 452 people in İstanbul

The population of İstanbul decreased by 56 thousand 815 compared to the previous year and declined to 15 million 462 thousand 452 people.

İstanbul, constituting 18.49 percent of Turkey's population, was followed by Ankara with 5 million 663 thousand 322 inhabitants, İzmir with 4 million 394 thousand 694 inhabitants, Bursa with 3 million 101 thousand 833 inhabitants and Antalya with 2 million 548 thousand 308 inhabitants.

Least populated province: Bayburt

Bayburt was the least populated province with 81 thousand 910 inhabitants. It was followed by Tunceli with 83 thousand 443 inhabitants, Ardahan with 96 thousand 161 inhabitants, Gümüşhane with 141 thousand 702 inhabitants and Kilis with 142 thousand 792 inhabitants.

Median age of Turkey's population: 32.7

The median age is the age of the person in the middle when the ages of all people in the population are sorted from the new-born baby to the oldest. Median age is also one of the important indicators used in the interpretation of the age structure of the population.

The median age of the population increased to 32.7 in 2020 from 32.4 in 2019. When analysed by sex, it was seen that the median age increased from 31.7 to 32.1 for males while it increased from 33.1 to 33.4 for females.

Proportion of population in working age group

The proportion of the working age population aged 15-64 increased from 66.5 percent in 2007 to 67.7 percent in 2020.

On the other hand, the proportion of the child population aged 0-14 decreased from 26.4 percent to 22.8 percent and the proportion of the population aged 65 and over increased from 7.1 percent to 9.5 percent.

Total age dependency ratio increased

Total age dependency ratio, which indicates the total number of children and elderly people per person in working age, increased from 47.5 percent in 2019 to 47.7 percent in 2020. 

Child dependency ratio, which indicates the total number of children per person in working age, decreased from 34.1 percent to 33.7 percent. Elderly dependency ratio, which indicates the number of people aged 65 and over per person in working age, increased from 13.4 percent to 14.1 percent. In other words, every 100 people in working age were responsible for 33.7 children and 14.1 elders in Turkey for 2020.

2,976 people per square meter in İstanbul

The population density, which is the number of persons per square kilometer, increased by 1 person compared to 2019 and reached 109 in 2020.

İstanbul had the highest population density with 2 thousand 976 persons per square kilometer. This province was followed by Kocaeli with 553 persons and İzmir with 366 persons.

Similar to the previous year, Tunceli was the province which had the smallest population density with 11 persons per square kilometer. This province was followed by Ardahan and Erzincan with 20 persons. Population density of Konya which has the largest surface area was 58 and the population density of Yalova which has the smallest surface area was 326. (HA/SD)

* "Foreign population covers individuals who are holding a valid residence/work permit at the reference day and individuals who have a valid address declaration at the reference day while holding an identity document equivalent to residence permit such as international protection identity document and the individuals who have already renounced his/her Turkish Republic citizenship and who have a valid address declaration at the reference day. In addition to Syrians under temporary protection, foreigners holding visas or residence permits shorter than 3 months with the purpose of training, tourism, scientific research, etc. are not covered." (by TurkStat)

** Click here to read the full analysis