Capital: Ankara

Population: 65,599,206 (July 1999 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 30% (male 10,148,457; female 9,781,452)
15-64 years: 64% (male 21,255,506; female 20,560,070)
65 years and over: 6% (male 1,775,164; female 2,078,557) (1999 est.)

Economy—overview: Turkey has a dynamic economy that is a complex mix of modern industry and commerce along with traditional village agriculture and crafts. It has a strong and rapidly growing private sector, yet the state still plays a major role in basic industry, banking, transport, and communication. Its most important industry—and largest exporter—is textiles and clothing, which is almost entirely in private hands. The economic situation in recent years has been marked by rapid growth coupled with partial success in implementing structural reform measures. Inflation declined to 70% in 1998, down from 99% in 1997, but the public sector fiscal deficit probably remained near 10% of GDP—due in large part to interest payments which accounted for 42% of central government spending in 1998. The government enacted a new tax law and speeded up privatization in 1998 but made no progress on badly needed social security reform. Ankara is trying to increase trade with other countries in the region yet most of Turkey's trade is still with OECD countries. Despite the implementation in January 1996 of a customs union with the EU, foreign direct investment in the country remains low—about $1 billion annually—perhaps because potential investors are concerned about still-high inflation and the unsettled political situation. Economic growth will remain about the same in 1999; inflation should decline further.

GDP: purchasing power parity—$425.4 billion (1998 est.)

GDP—real growth rate: 2.8% (1998 est.)

GDP—per capita: purchasing power parity—$6,600 (1998 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 70% (1998)

Industrial production growth rate: 4.1% (1998 est.)

Telephones: 17 million (in addition, there are 1.5 million cellular telephone subscribers) (1997 est.)

Telephone system: fair domestic and international systems; undergoing modernization and refurbishment programs
domestic: cable; AMPS standard cellular system in Ashkhabad with plans for expansion
international: 12 satellite earth stations—Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean), Eutelsat, and Inmarsat (Indian and Atlantic Ocean regions); 3 submarine fiber-optic cables (1996); connected internationally by the Trans-Asia-Europe Fiber-Optic Line that became operational in 1998

Radio broadcast stations: AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA
note: there are 36 national broadcast stations, 108 regional broadcast stations, and 1,058 local broadcast stations (1996)

Radios: 9.4 million (1992 est.)

Television broadcast stations: 69 (in addition, there are 476 low-power repeaters) (1997)

Televisions: 10.53 million (1993 est.)