The Population

As well as climatic variations, Turkey 's landscape has created a noteworthy population distribution. Most of the country's large settlements are located on the coast while the Anatolian plateau, with the exception of the capital and second-largest metropolis, Ankara, is home to much of the country's agriculture and accompanying rural population. Almost half Turkey 's inhabitants live in rural areas. The mountainous regions are relatively sparsely inhabited but their often-wonderful scenery indicates that there is potential here for property development assuming the necessary infrastructure support.

According to the 2000 census, the population of Turkey amounted to 67 million 844 thousand. 33.6 million of the population are female and 34.2 million are male. While the annual average population increase was 24.9% in the 1980-1985 period and 21.7% in the 1985-1990 period, this figure dropped to 18.3% in the 1990- 2000 period. This figure is expected to drop further to 14.5% in the 2000-2005 period.

Of the 81 provinces in the country, the three most densely populated are Istanbul with a population of 10 million, Ankara with a population of 4 million, and Izmir with a population of 3.4 million.

In the last 30 years, the population in the western and southern regions has increased, while it has decreased in the central, northern and eastern regions. The three provinces registering the greatest increase in population growth rate are Antalya with a 41.8% increase, Sanliurfa with a 36.6% increase, and Istanbul with a 33.1% increase. Tunceli has the lowest population growth rate among the provinces with a 35.6% decrease. These changes in the regional distribution of population in Turkey resulted from migration from the eastern and northern regions to the western and southern metropolises.

Turkey is a country with a young population. Modern Turkey 's society is one of the youngest in Europe and is increasingly dynamic in nature. While 99 per cent of the population is Muslim, the secular state guarantees freedom of religion to all its citizens and the country does not have the same problems with radical or fundamentalist Islamic organizations as those suffered by certain of its neighbours.