Turkish Board of Statistics (TUIK) announced on Monday that its population reached 71.5 million in 2008.
The population increased 13.1 per thousand to 71.517 million in 2008 compared with 70.586 million in 2007, according to the results of "Address-Based Population Registration System" released by TUIK on its website. The report said the population in 55 out of 81 provinces increased and 26 provinces decreased in 2008.
According to the statistics, the northwestern provinces of Yalova and Tekirdag and southeastern province of Hakkari registered the highest speed of population increase, while the lowest was in the northwestern province of Bilecik, the western province of Kutahya and the southern province of Isparta in 2008.
Address-Based Population Registration System was established in 2007 by registering all addresses within the boundaries of the country in the National Address Database and registering all Turkish citizens living in these addresses linked to the Turkish Identification Number, Xinhua reported.