Provisional results of a national census taken in November show the total population to be 62.6 million, state minister Mehmet Batalli said on 10 December. Since the last census in 1990, the population has grown at an average annual rate of 14.73 people per thousand, or about 1.5 per cent, Batalli added. The 1990 census showed the population to be 56.5 million. A total of 40.7 million people live in urban areas, and the remainder in rural districts, Batalli said. Istanbul, the country's largest city, has a population of 9.2 million, up from 7.2 million in 1990.

Istanbul is followed by the capital Ankara with 3.7 million, then Izmir with 3.1 million. The two cities had populations of 3.2 million and 2.7 million respectively in 1990. The Mediterranean resort centre of Antalya is the fastest growing city in the country, expanding by 4.2 per cent a year between 1990 and 1997 to its present population of 1.1 million, according to Batalli. Istanbul comes second with 3.5 per cent annual growth over the period, the minister added.

The census was originally scheduled to update voting lists ahead of expected early general elections in 1998. The next national census will be held in 2000.