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Review Papers | Geography | Turkey | Volume 4 Issue 4, April 2015

Growth of Population and Population Policies Implemented in Turkey between 1965 and 2014

Dr. zlem Sertkaya Doan

Abstract: Countries may periodically implement different policies with regard to the amount of their populations. While these policies sometimes aim at increasing the population depending on the countries- level of development, they sometimes restrict the population growth rate. Generally, it is possible to mention about two periods for Turkey in terms of population policies. Whereas pronatalist policy, in other words, reproduction policy (population-increasing) was followed in the first period, which lasted from the beginning years of the Republic until 1965 in our country, antinatalist policies, that is, policies for decreasing the population growth (restricting the population growth rate) were initiated in the second period after this year. Our population generally had a tendency to increase in the period between 1927 and 1965. The years of the Second World War (1939-1945) were a period when great population losses were experienced in our country just like the whole world. There were decreases in the populations and population growth rate because of the reasons such as a majority of the male population was fighting at the front, family unions were dispersed and medical care and medicine couldn-t be supplied sufficiently. In order to prevent the negative effects of this situation, population-increasing policies were followed between 1927 and 1965. As of 1960s, it started to appear that population-increasing policies, which had been adopted in the Republic Period, weren-t valid any more under the circumstances of that time. Turkey had to produce various policies in many fields within the new system depending on the changes and developments that occurred in the world conjuncture. Especially after 1965, our country brought new initiatives with respect to population (Doan, M. , 201327). Peace and trust environment, psychological relaxing, increase in the national income, technology developing over time, improvement of health services, hygienization of nourishment and accommodation conditions and increase in the transportation and communication opportunities, which were caused by the adoption of multi-party democratic regime after the Second World War, had an effect on the population growth. Population policies implemented in Turkey after 1965 developed in a reverse way, because the population increased more quickly and a lot more than expected. From this year onwards, a policy was implemented to decrease the population growth rate.

Keywords: Turkey, Population, Development, Population Policies, Antinatalist policies

Edition: Volume 4 Issue 4, April 2015,

Pages: 1907 - 1911

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