ANKARA
Turkey’s elderly population, aged 65 years and over, reached nearly 8 million as of the end of 2020, the country’s statistical authority announced on Thursday.
The figure, reaching 7,953,555, grew by 22.5% over the past five years, up from around 6.5 million in 2015, TurkStat said.
While the proportion of the elderly population in the total population was 8.2% in 2015, this increased to 9.5% percent in 2020.
According to TurkStat, women represented 55.8% of the elderly population, while men made up 44.2% last year.
The proportion of the elderly population in Turkey is expected to rise to 11% in 2025, 12.9% in 2030, 16.3% in 2040, 22.6% in 2060, and 25.6% in 2080.
Official figures revealed that there were 5,780 centenarians in the country — 0.1% of the elderly population.
TurkStat said the elderly dependency ratio — the number of elderly persons per hundred persons in working age — was 14.1% last year, up from 12.2% in 2015.
This ratio is expected to be 16.4% in 2025, 19.6% in 2030, 25.3% in 2040, 37.5% in 2060 and 43.6% in 2080.
TurkStat also noted that last year, 9.5% of the world population was in the elderly category.
“The three countries that had the highest proportion of the elderly population were Monaco with 33.5%, Japan with 28.5% and Germany with 22.9%, respectively,” said the institute.
Turkey was in the 66th rank among 167 countries, it added.
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