8 Billion Lives
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Where you could be born / Asia / Western Asia

Born in Turkey

About 1 in 123 people born in 2023 started life in Turkey. A boy can expect to live 75 years and a girl 80, up from 44 and 50 in 1950. Most people live in cities, and nearly everyone has basic drinking water.

1 in 123
odds of being born here
1.1 million births · Ranked 28th of 230
75 / 80
years of life, boys / girls
Was 44 / 50 in 1950
$14,392
income per person a year
2021 dollars · Ranked 67th of 203 · extrapolated
89%
live in a city
The rest live in villages

Life and health

Life lasts about 30 years longer than in 1950. Child deaths fell from 310 in every 1,000 births to 13.

How long a life lasts

GirlsBoys

0255075100195019852023

Years a baby born that year could expect to live.

Children who die before age 5
0100200300400195019852023

In every 1,000 births.

Life expectancy at birth74.5 years for boys, 79.9 for girlsUN WPP 2024
Children who die before age 513.1 in every 1,000 birthsUN WPP 2024
Deaths a year552,000UN WPP 2024
Doctors per 1,000 people2.2World Bank WDI
Children immunized against measles95%World Bank WDI
New tuberculosis cases a year14 per 100,000 peopleWorld Bank WDI

Family

Women had 6.5 children on average in 1950. Now it is 1.6, below the 2.1 it takes to keep a population steady.

Children per woman
02468195019852023

Average over a lifetime.

Children per woman1.62UN WPP 2024
Average age of mothers at birth29.2 yearsUN WPP 2024

Money and work

If every 100 coins of income were shared out, the richest fifth would hold 50 and the poorest fifth 6.

Who gets the income
Share of all income by fifth of the population, 2023
6%Poorest fifth
10%Second
14%Middle
21%Fourth
50%Richest fifth
Income per personabout $14,392 a year (2021 dollars, adjusted for prices)World Bank PIP, scaled between survey years Extrapolated
Share of income going to the richest fifth / poorest fifth50% / 6% (2023)World Bank PIP
Unemployment9.4% of the workforce (2023)World Bank WDI
Price rises53.9% a year (2023)World Bank WDI
Growth in output per person4.6% (2023)World Bank WDI
Jobs in farming15% of jobsWorld Bank WDI
Self-employed29% of jobs (2025)World Bank WDI
Secondary school enrolment118% (can pass 100 when older students are counted)World Bank WDI

Daily life

The largest city is Istanbul, with 15.7 million people.

89%
live in cities
100%
have electricity at home
96%
have basic drinking water
Largest cities
People living there
Istanbul15.7 million
Ankara3.5 million
Bursa3.1 million
İzmir2.9 million
Gaziantep2.2 million
Languages
Share of people who can use each
Turkish93%
English17%
Kurdish6%
Zaza1%
Turkish is official.

Cities and regions

Every state, province and large city with a page.

Largest regions

Istanbul24.7 million
İzmir Province5.3 million
Ankara4.8 million
Bursa Province4.2 million
Antalya2.6 million
Gaziantep2.3 million
Adana2.1 million
Diyarbakır Province2.1 million
Konya2.0 million
Kayseri1.6 million

Sourced: GeoNames Population of each state, province or region.

Large cities

Sourced: GeoNames Cities with a page: a million people or more.

All 60 regions
  • Istanbul24.7 million
  • İzmir Province5.3 million
  • Ankara4.8 million
  • Bursa Province4.2 million
  • Antalya2.6 million
  • Gaziantep2.3 million
  • Adana2.1 million
  • Diyarbakır Province2.1 million
  • Konya2.0 million
  • Kayseri1.6 million
  • Mersin1.2 million
  • Hatay1.2 million
  • Şanlıurfa1.0 million
  • Eskişehir921,630
  • Erzurum919,929
  • Kocaeli797,050
  • Malatya793,942
  • Manisa772,361
  • Samsun629,731
  • Denizli629,685
  • Van616,931
  • Balıkesir615,675
  • Kahramanmaraş578,645
  • Elazığ511,996
  • Sakarya501,605
  • Mardin498,148
  • Adıyaman Province484,881
  • Trabzon481,728
  • Batman481,659
  • Aydın479,698
  • Ordu456,637
  • Tekirdağ456,319
  • Afyonkarahisar Province440,287
  • Tokat Province398,316
  • Çorum390,412
  • Uşak386,513
  • Muğla359,549
  • Aksaray358,719
  • Şırnak339,308
  • Sivas330,558
  • Kütahya322,164
  • Ağrı300,277
  • Bitlis284,849
  • Giresun279,240
  • Isparta277,060
  • Osmaniye273,085
  • Canakkale271,744
  • Edirne261,116
  • Zonguldak Province257,819
  • Düzce249,627
  • Kırıkkale236,639
  • Amasya232,404
  • Bolu213,264
  • Rize Province212,349
  • Yozgat209,085
  • Kırşehir195,827
  • Karaman192,376
  • Erzincan190,305
  • Kırklareli175,846
  • Hakkâri168,406

People on the move

About 3.6% as many people born here live abroad as live here. The most common destinations are Germany, France, Netherlands.

Where people born here live abroad
By country of residence, 2024
Germany1,504,743
France260,167
Netherlands217,388
Residents born abroad8.1% (2024)World Bank WDI
People born here who live abroadequal to 3.6% of the people who live hereUN DESA migrant stock
Where they go mostGermany (1.5 million), France (260,167), Netherlands (217,388)UN DESA migrant stock
Money sent home from abroadabout $761.0 million a year (2025)World Bank WDI

Safety nets

86% of older people receive a pension. Help for someone who loses a job reaches 3%.

86%
of older people receive a pension (2022)
3%
of unemployed people receive a benefit (2022)

Events in the data

The game draws real events from these records, so a life lived here can meet them.

Reported COVID-19 deaths, 2020 to 2024101,419Our World in Data, from WHO
Significant earthquakes recorded since 195079; the deadliest, in 2023, killed about 56,697 people (magnitude 7.8)NOAA NCEI
Deaths in organized violence32,073 between 1989 and 2024UCDP

Now live it.

Born in Turkey, to a family drawn from these numbers. Every life replays exactly from its seed.

Be born in Turkey

Elsewhere in Asia

All countries

How to read the sources. Every figure is sourced to a named dataset, shown beside it. A figure marked "Extrapolated" is estimated by a model because no survey covers the year. UN figures are for 2023, the latest year of UN estimates; other figures are the latest year their dataset has. Rank 1 is the highest figure among 230 countries and territories. All sources and licences