TURKISH STATISTICAL INSTITUTE (TURKSTAT)
With the growth and increasing complexity of the Turkish economy and the resulting societal changes, there has been an increasing interest in statistics as a means of monitoring many aspects of the country’s development, including the functioning of government, at all levels. The almost universal recognition of the importance of statistics and the compliance studies to the EU standards has placed a heavy responsibility on the State Institute of Statistics. For this reason, a new statistical law has been prepared in compliance with the EU standards.
Turkish Statistical Law has been published in the Official Gazette numbered 25997 on 18th of November, 2005 and entered into force on the same day. The new law has been adopted in accordance with our commitments on account of statistical system applied in EU countries. The new law has changed the name of our institute as Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT).
With the New Turkish Statistical Law some provisions concerning the organizational structure of the Institute are introduced and principles regarding the Official Statistics are set out. In accordance with the Law, preparation of a Multi-Annual Official Statistical Programme is proposed and implementation principles and authorities of the Programme are determined. On the other hand, functions and organization of the Statistical Council are re-arranged by including the Statistical Council into the organizational structure of the Institute.” (July 2008)
PUBLICATIONS OF THE “STATE INSTITUTE OF STATISTICS”
Turkish Statistical Institute was named as State Institute if Statistics (Devlet Istatistik Entitusu) before 2005. Therefore it should be noted that the publications of Turkish Statistical Institute before 2005 were published by State Institute of Statistics. The State Institute of Statistics provided brief information on their publications sorted by subject.
Click here to see the website hosted by Bilkent University or here to see the translated version of these annotations.
Although this website was presumed to be last updated around late 1997, the annotations include information on the early publications along with the current publications by then. Various subjects on those publications are judicial, environmental, education, energy, price, income and consumption, general publications, vital, construction, labor force and work, culture and sport, mining, finance, population, industrial, election, agricultural, business, tourism, and transportation. The vocabulary for State Institute of Statistics terms organized by subject is available here. (In Turkish)
PUBLICATIONS OF THE TURKISH STATISTICAL INSTITUTE
The catalog for Turkish Statistical Institute’s publications is available online in English and Turkish, and updated every year. It comprises annotations on TURKSTAT publications.
From the foreword:
“Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), collects official statistics regarding the country and structure of the society, and provides the users with demanded information beside various channels both in publications and in news bulletins. This TurkStat Data Access and Publication Catalogue includes Annual National Data Release Calendar of the News Bulletins, Historical Statistical Series and information about periodicity, format and price, period covered and content of publications published since 2000. Many of our publications are available on CD-Rom in PDF format, and also they are supplied to the users in EXCEL format on request. In addition, Statistical Tables, Metadata and Databases are also available on http://www.turkstat.gov.tr web page. Those who want to order our publications shall fill in the Data/Information Request Form and send via e-mail, post or fax.”
You should know…
- Data/Information Request Form is provided at the end of the PDF file.
- Click here to access this catalog online at TUIK’s website.
- The foreword says that the catalog includes publications from 2000; however, there are some publications that include statistics for earlier years. (e.g., Provincial Indicators, 1980 – 2003; Statistical Indicators, 1923 – 2007)
- Click here for 2008 catalog.
- Click here for 2009 catalog.
TURKISH STATISTICAL INSTITUTE ON THE WEB
Turkish Statistical Institute’s website provides a large collection of their publications. English and Turkish interfaces are available. Keep in mind that Turkish interface is more comprehensive than English. For guidance through the site, you can find more information below :
STATISTICS
In this section, you can reach the statistics grouped into main categories, e.g. agriculture, business statistics etc. These main categories cover sub-categories, for example, agriculture is divided into sub-categories: Crop production statistics, Agricultural holdings wage statistics, etc.
You can reach the sub-categories by clicking the subject that you are interested in. Here, you can have information about latest news bulletin, data, metadata and publications. You can reach the full news bulletin and download the tables in the news bulletin. You can vote for statistics, you can send it to your friend by e-mail. There is also pursue button to follow up the bulletins, but you have to subscribe for this. In data section, you can reach detailed data on the category of statistics that you have chosen. You can choose the table and you can open or save it in Ms-Excel format. You can also reach the detailed data on the category of statistics by dynamic search. You can get a report after filling out the related fields. You can also access to metadata page for related statistics.
There is also publications button where you can get summary information about the publications related to the subject and make a purchase for TURKSTAT publications.
STATISTICS BY THEME
The Databank presents statistics on the various subjects which are also categorized under Statistics by Theme section. After choosing the subject, you can have reports by choosing the table name and the parameters required. For example, you are interested in agriculture. Move your mouse to agriculture, and click on the sub-category that you are interested in, e.g. livestock statistics.
On the window opened, there are dynamic search and statistical tables. In dynamic search, you will get the tables in the format you want by selecting the options. This directs you a number of parameters which will help limiting/customizing your search.
You should know…
- The recent publications can be shortly reached by clicking on Publications Market.
- However, it should be noted that Turkish interface does not match with the English interface. Generally, Turkish interface is more comprehensive.
- Turkish citizenship ID is required to sign up for current news bulletins.
- There may NOT be statistics data for every year. In other words, some of the parameter selections may NOT give any results.
- The searching parameters may not be correctly arranged in the databank. For example, the base years presented in Consumer Price Index are not correctly categorized. The most recent category starts from the base year 2005 whereas it should start from 2003.
REGIONAL STATISTICS
Turkish Statistical Institute also provides Regional Statistics through their website, which allows you to search variety of statistics according to Turkey’s regions. Data is divided into two main categories:
1. Regional Statistics (since 1995)
2. Urban Audit (since 2000)
Manual is provided at every webpage that is clicked on. Various queries can be made over tables, indicators, and variables. Results can be viewed in html, cvs, excel, xml and pdf formats.
Subject headings for Regional Statistics are; general information, population and migration, demography, building, education, culture, tourism, health, justice, environment, elections, agriculture, energy, labor force, business statistics, transportation, foreign trade, prices and indexes, purchasing power parity, and national accounts.
Subject headings for Urban Audit are demography, social aspects, economic aspects, civic involvement, training and education, environment, travel and transport, and culture and recreation.
INTERNATIONAL SELECTED ECONOMIC INDICATORS
If you are interested to know of International Selected Economic Indicators, you can query and export the data over tables or variables as in Regional Statistics. Guidelines are provided for every page. The topics for International Selected Economic Indicators are population dynamics, money and market indicators, national accounts, public finance, foreign trade and balance of payments, labor force market, and selected indexes. The results can be viewed in html, cvs, excel, xml and pdf formats.
CLASSIFICATIONS
“Up to now, TURKSTAT has produced statistical data based on International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities ISIC prepared by United Nations and commonly accepted in all the world. The Turkish Statistical System is in the process of transition into European Union Classification System (derived and developed from international classification system) instead of international classifications that we have used for many years. So, it will be in accordance with both international classifications and European classifications, to ensure data comparability and at the same time to respond data requests at the national level.” (TURKSTAT classifications homepage)
Turkish Statistical Institute website provides information on the classification system that they use for data. Links below guide you through the website:
Classification families are categorized as activity, product, foreign trade classifications, and classifications according to purpose, geographical, environmental, education, health, occupation classifications and more.
You should know…
- This website is currently in process. Some of the files are NOT accessible.
- English and Turkish interfaces are intertwined. For instance, when surfing the website, sometimes you may be unexpectedly led to the Turkish interface.
- English interface is NOT thoroughly translated.
CURRENT SUMMARY DATA
TURKSTAT website regularly posts the current summary data on inflation, industrial production, labor force, foreign trade and national accounts. Click here to see more.
KARSILASTIRMALI BOLGESEL GOSTERGELER
(COMPARATIVE REGIONAL INDICATORS)
TURKSTAT provides the PDF files of Karsilastirmali Bolgesel Gostergeler (Comparative Regional Indicators). However, this service is ONLY available in Turkish and at Turkish interface. This publication includes the latest available data starting from the year of 2000. Also, it includes comparative statistical data. The statistics can be viewed at the provincial level and two different groupings of more than one province.
The link leads to a map where you can see the regions. When you click on the regions, you will be directed to the publication regarding comparative statistical data of that region.
Each publication includes three major sections;
- Temel Gostergeler (Fundamental Indicators): includes various subjects such as population, age, electricity consumption, labor, per Capita Income, etc.
- Nufus ve Sosyal Yapi (Demographic and Social Structure): includes various subjects such as demographics, immigration, health, education, culture, justice, elections, environment, labor, etc.
- Ekonomik Yapi (Economic Structure): includes various subjects such as per Capita Income, foreign trade, finance, energy, construction, transportation, agriculture, tourism, etc.
You should know…
- Code numbers for various regions are heavily used in the presentation of the data, which can make it difficult to understand the various charts and graphs.
- The definitions of the indicators are provided at the beginning of each section.
LIBRARY COLLECTIONS
TURKISH STATISTICAL INSTITUTE LIBRARY
Turkish Statistical Institute’s library website can be accessed from http://kutuphane.tuik.gov.tr/. The library holds over 28700 volumes. Click here to see the holdings overview by location, type, and language. Catalog interface is available in Turkish, Kirgiz, Russian, English,Turkmen, Dutch, German and French.
Click on Catalog for Basic search. Advanced search is also available for books, theses, periodicals, manuscripts, and non-books.
In Detailed search, you can limit the results by department, subtype, form, media, language, publication date, arrival time, and more.
You should know…
- No information found on the library’s holdings in general, but assumed to hold mostly on statistical materials
- Searching in language interfaces other than Turkish may NOT be completely translated.
- Searching with Turkish and English characters may NOT give the same results.
- Searching for manuscripts is in process.
- Opening a private session is only available to the library members, which is only available to the TURKSTAT personnel.
- Membership is not necessary for inquiring bibliographic records or accessing the available full-text materials.
JOURNAL OF STATISTICAL RESEARCH
Journal of Statistical Research (JSR), an academic publication of Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT), is published two times a year (January, July) starting from 2007. The journal’s website is only available through the TURKSTAT’s Turkish interface and only in Turkish. (10/7/09).
You should know…
· Subscription is required to access the full text article.
· Full citation is NOT available when searching the articles. Author of the article is missing in the records.
· Although they claim that this journal has been published since 2007, the index goes back to 2002.
· As of October 2009, over 230 articles were published in this journal.
INFO DEMAND
If you are willing to ask for statistical data form Turkish Statistical Institute, visit Info demand (bilgi talebi) where you can find all the information you need. Note that this link at Turkish interface is more comprehensive from the one at the English interface. (http://www.turkstat.gov.tr/UstMenu.do?metod=bilgiTalebi)
Products and services: Lists variety of services to access data, like news bulletins, metadata, publications, teletext through national television broadcast, and mobile data dissemination service.
Data requests: In addition to using TurkStat website, and available publications, you could also contact TurkStat via e-mail (for Info Demand bilgi@tuik.gov.tr, for TurkStat Library kutuphane@tuik.gov.tr) , phone (for Info Demand +90312 4100215/+90 312 4100213, for publications +90312 4253423/+90312 4100285, for TurkStat library +90312 410 0546), fax (for Info Demand +90312 4100213/+90312 4170432, for publications +90312 4175886, for TurkStat library +90312 410 0546)
Pricing: Information and data is provided free of charge for the requests from public institutions, press, and universities (related to the projects). Other requests are variously priced, visit Info Demand (Fiyatlandirma) to find out.
Micro data: In order to access micro data, you should file an Info Demand request.
European Data – Information Data and Consulting Services: TurkStat provides links to Eurostat databases, publications, and news bulletins.