Turkey's elderly population has increased by 24% in the past five years, with people aged 65 and above constituting 9.7% of the total population in 2021, official statistics released on Friday indicated.

Statistics by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) showed that the number of elderly people reached more than 8.2 million in 2021 from 6.6 million in 2016. Women make up the majority of the elderly population as their lifespan on average is longer than men in Turkey.

Turkey once boasted one of the youngest populations in Europe, but the proportion of the elderly population is rapidly increasing. Indeed, projections show it could reach 11% within the next three years and exceed 16.3% by 2040.

The majority of senior citizens are those between the ages of 65 and 74, around the age of retirement and the average life span in the country.

TurkStat said in a press release on Friday that the age structure of Turkey’s population was changing and noted that passing the threshold of 10% for elderly people in the total population was an indicator of an aging population, something Turkey is too close to now. The institute, however, added that it was part of a "global aging process."

"Turkey’s age structure curve changed with advances in public health, better living conditions, increases in welfare levels and life expectancy along with decreasing rates of fertility and mortality," it said. Turkey ranked 68th among 167 countries in terms of proportion of the elderly population according to TurkStat, while Monaco, Japan and Italy lead the list of countries with the highest elderly population.

The elderly dependency ratio, the number of elderly persons per hundred people of working age, also increased, from around 12% in 2016 to more than 14% in 2021.

The Black Sea region features prominently in the geographic distribution of the elderly population. Sinop, which has maintained its place as the city with the highest proportion of elderly for most of the past decade, ranked first again with 20.1%, ahead of neighboring Kastamonu. Artvin and Giresun, two other Black Sea provinces, followed them. Sinop and Kastamonu are also among the provinces that have had a high rate of migration for decades. Especially in Sinop, natives retiring and returning to the city after working elsewhere for years make up a considerable number of the elderly population. The lowest ratio of elderly in the population, as usual, was in the southeastern provinces, with Şırnak being one of the youngest provinces in the country with an elderly population of only 3.5%, ahead of its neighbor Hakkari and Şanlıurfa province. Statistics also show that the number of provinces with an unusually high rate of elderly rose to 22 in 2021 from only eight in 2016.

One in every four households had at least one person aged 65 and above, according to 2021 statistics, while the number of elderly people living alone was more than 1.5 million. An overwhelming majority of the elderly living alone were women, something that can be attributed to their longevity, at least for widows. The western province of Burdur had the highest rate of elderly people living alone.

Centenarians numbered only 5,859 in 2021, and the majority of them were in Istanbul, TurkStat figures show.

Along with a rise in their population, the education level of the elderly also increased. According to the latest available data, the rate of illiterate elderly individuals declined to around 15% in 2020 from 20% in 2016. Women, on the other hand, still made up the majority of the illiterate elderly female population.

According to the results of the income and living conditions survey by TurkStat, the poverty rate for the elderly population was 16% in 2016 and this rate increased to 16.7% in 2020. Senior citizens’ participation in the labor force was only 10% and as with other ages, men’s participation in labor was higher than that of women. Nevertheless, more than 64% of employed elderly people were working in the agricultural sector.

Other figures related to the elderly show that more than 56% of elderly individuals declare themselves happy.

Senior citizens are also better "connected" nowadays. The rate of the elderly using internet technologies increased to 32.5% in 2021 from only 8.8% in 2016, according to TurkStat.