Along with the continuation of the differences among the regions, a decrease in the rate of population growth has been observed in recent years in parallel with the decrease in the total fertility rate in the country in general. Indeed, the annual average population increase was 15.1 per thousand between 1990-1997. If the population growth rate remains stable, then it is expected that the population will reach 65.3 million by the middle of the year 2000. One of the most significant attributes of the population in Turkey is the fact that it is a young population. The ratio of the population under 30 years of age within the total population is at such a high degree that its precedent is rarely encountered in the world.
Turkey is one of the countries with the most rapid process of urbanization in the world.
There is a great migration into the cities from rural areas and the urban population is increasing rapidly. Even if decreases have been observed in the birth rate and the mortality rate over time, the migration movement did not lose much momentum. The population is concentrated especially in the large provinces and industrial regions. Provinces such as Istanbul , Ankara , Izmir , Adana , Kocaeli , Bursa , Antalya and Gaziantep as industrial or trade centers have dense populations. The rapid urbanization created by the population coming from the rural areas increases the number of large cities on the one hand, and causes serious problems from the viewpoint of sound urbanization in the large metropolises, on the other.