Until 2000, the population census was carried out in Turkey with a traditional method and the enumeration conducted in one day on a “de facto” basis. Therefore, information on usual residence of the population is not available from past censuses. Another problem was population overcount (imaginary population) due to the fact that census results are used to allocate funds to the municipalities, in proportion to their population size.

In view of the 2010 census, the Turkish Statistical Institute aims at changing the method of population census in order to produce more reliable information particularly on population size and distribution. For this purpose, the population registration system has been improved to cover usual residence address of all people living in the country. This system is considered as a base source for the next census. The main purpose of the paper is to present the method developed to increase the coverage of the population registration system, and the planned methodology for the 2010 census.

Paper presented at the Joint UNECE/Eurostat Meeting on Population and Housing Censuses, Geneva, 13-15 May 2008.