Population of Türkiye nears 85 million

The population of Türkiye has reached a total of 84,680,273 in 2021 following a continuous increasing trend in years, the country’s official statistic Office TÜİK has announced.

In a statement published on Dec. 19, TÜİK published a chart showing the rising population of the country since 1927, the year the first census in the republic was held.

The population was some 16.2 million in 1935, about 20.9 million in 1950, then 27 million in 1960, increasing to 36.8 million in 1970 and some 44.7 million in 1980, the chart showed.

The population surpassed 50 million in 1990 with nearly 57 million in 1990. With the start of the millennium, the population reached 67.8 million.

In 2008 the population reached some 71.5 million and 78.7 million in 2015.

“When the population was examined by sex, while the female population outnumbered the male population in the first years of the Republic of Türkiye due to the previous war period, the female and male population reached almost equal size over the years,” TÜİK said.

While the male population was 6.5 million in 1927, it became some 42.4 million in 2021. The female population, which neared 8 million in 1927, topped 42 million in 2021.

“When the population growth rate of Türkiye was analyzed by years, it was seen that the annual population growth rate, which was 21.1 per thousand in 1935, became 12.7 per thousand in 2021,” it noted.

With an analysis of the population pyramids, the graphs that show the changes in the age-sex structure in society, TÜİK stated that the elderly population and median age increased and the share of children and youth in the total population decreased.

“Although Türkiye still had a younger population compared to countries having proportionally elderly population, the elderly population was quite high quantitatively,” it added.

The median age, one of the important indicators used in the interpretation of the age structure of the population, increased to 33.1 in 2021 from 21.2 in 1935 for Türkiye.

When it was analyzed by sex, it was seen that the median age increased from 19.1 to 32.4 for males and from 23.4 to 33.8 for females in this period.

The proportion of the working-age population aged 15-64 increased from 54.7 percent in 1935 to 67.9 percent in 2021. On the other hand, while the proportion of child population aged 0-14 was 41.4 percent in 1935, it showed a decreasing trend over the years and declined to 22.4 percent in 2021.

The proportion of the elderly population aged 65 and over, which was 3.9 percent in 1935, became 9.7 percent in 2021 said TÜİK.

The study also showed that the proportion of never-married people is higher among males than females, while the proportion of widowed and divorced people is higher among females than males.

On the other hand, it was seen that the proportion of married people, which made up the vast majority, was close to each other for both sexes over the years.

The proportion of the illiterate population in Türkiye was 80.8 percent in 1935, some 12 years after the republic was established.

“This proportion showed a continuous downward trend over the years and decreased to 2.5 percent in 2021,” TÜİK announced.

When analyzed by sex, “the proportion of illiterate male population decreased from 70.7 percent in 1935 to 0.8 percent in 2021, while the proportion of illiterate females also declined from 90.2 percent in 1935 to 4.2 percent in 2021.”

One other interesting data the study showed was about migration inside the country. In 2021, nearly 2.8 million migrated across provinces in Türkiye. “Some 47.5 percent of this population consisted of males while 52.5 percent were females,” it added.

Some 3.7 percent of the Turkish population was born abroad, with Bulgaria-born persons taking the lead.

Those born in Bulgaria ranked in first place with 11.4 percent among 3.1 million people born abroad and then residing in Türkiye. They were followed by those born in Germany with 10.5 percent, Iraq with 10.4 percent, Syria with 8.8 percent and Afghanistan with 5.7 percent, respectively.

Nearly 1.8 million consists of the foreign population residing in Türkiye in 2021, the study also showed.