Europe shrinks, Turkey grows

74 million inhabitants, 8 cities with over 1 million inhabitants each, and an urbanisation level of 76 percent – for many, Turkey is an undiscovered territory.

With more than 74 million inhabitants, the country at the Bosporus is about as large as Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and all ex-Yugoslavian countries together. In addition to its 8 cities with over 1 million inhabitants each, namely Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Bursa, Adana, Gaziantep, Konya and Antalya, Turkey also has 65 further cities with over 100,000 inhabitants. This results in an urbanisation level of 76 percent.

Yet living in the city does not necessarily mean living like an urbanite. Many Turkish cities are growing so rapidly that infrastructure is still lagging behind. Some of the cities with over 1 million inhabitants have seen their populations nearly double within the last 10 years. Increasing traffic, housing shortages, poorly developed public transport systems and limited local supply are among the major challenges faced by these cities.

There are also issues worth considering when it comes to consumer behaviour. Although Western style is being copied in Turkey's larger cities and Western brands are very popular, there is nonetheless local competition which should be taken seriously. Especially in the fashion sector, many attractively priced items are often produced for export yet also sold domestically.