• IsDB Membership: Turkey joined IsDB on 12 August 1974 as its founding member. Its share of subscribed capital is ID 3,264 million (6.45%) as of 31 December 2017.
• Geographic & Demographic Profile: Turkey is a regional power, strategically located between Europe and Asia bordering the Mediterranean, Aegean, and Black Seas with neighboring countries such as Azerbaijan, Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Greece and Bulgaria.

Turkey's strategic location enables the country to play a pivotal role in regional economic development. Its population is 80.8 million (2018, Turkstat) and land area is 783,000 km2. Turkey

is divided geographically into 7 regions namely, Aegean. Black Sea, Central Anatolia, Eastern Anatolia, Marmara, Mediterranean and Southeastern Anatolia. Turkey is divided administratively into 81 provinces, which in turn have 923 districts. Turkey has rapidly urbanized in recent decades with over 75% of the population now living in the 30 metropolitan cities as opposed to 25% in 1950. Turkey has a relatively young demographic profile with a median age of 31.7 and an Old- age-dependency ratio of 12.2 (2016: Eurostat).

• Structure of Economy & Income Level: Services constitute 53%, Industry 29% and Agriculture 6% of Turkey's economy (WDI). Turkey's main exports are motor vehicles, machinery, textiles, plastics and chemicals (2018; TurkStat). Turkey is an upper-middle income country with per capita income of US$10,512 (IMF-2017).
• Competitiveness & Credit Rating: Turkey is the 53rd most competitive country in WEF's Global Competitiveness Report and ranks 60th among 190 in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business rankings. The sovereign credit of Turkey has the following international ratings: Standard and Poor's B+, Moody's Ba3 and Fitch BB.
• Human Development: Turkey has made enormous gains in poverty reduction, cutting the poverty rate from 30% in 2002 to 1.6% in 2014 in terms of national poverty line (WDI). The Gini Index is relatively high at 41.9 (2016; WDI). Turkey is ranked 71st in UNDP Human Development Report (2016). Turkey's life expectancy at birth has increased to 75.8 years in 2016. The under-5 mortality rate is 12.7 while the maternal mortality rate is 16 (WDI). Turkey's mean years of schooling have increased from 4.5 in 1990 to 8.0 in 2016 (UNDP).