Turkish Population Aging But Still Youngest in Europe

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Turkish Population Aging But Still Youngest in Europe

Turks.US, May 19 2003

Ankara, TURKEY, May 19, 2003 - Although the percentage of citizens aged 65 and older in Turkey increased from 4.3 percent to 8 percent of total population during the 1990-2003 period, it still continues to have the youngest population among European Union members and candidates.

The percentage of aging citizens jumps to approximately 18.1 percent in Italy, 17.6 percent in Greece and 17.4 percent in Sweden. Even in Ireland, which is second to Turkey in terms of a youthful citizenry, the elderly population rate is approaching 11.3 percent.

According to information from the State Institute of Statistics (DIE) 10.4 million people in Italy, which has a population of 57.7 million, are 65 and over, giving it the oldest population in the world.

February 2003 statistics from DIE indicate that Turkey has 5,666,000 elderly citizens out of its population of over 70 million. 2002 World Bank data indicate that Greece has 1.9 million elderly out of a population of 10.6 million and that Sweden has an elderly population numbering 1.5 million out of 8.9 million. There are 13.5 million elderly in Germany, ranked seventh in the world in terms of its elderly population, while there are 9.4 million senior citizens in France, which is 10th in the world.