Selected index indicators in the accession of Turkey to the European Union

Abstract

Full accession negotiations between Turkey and the EU started on October 3rd, 2005 necessitated the determination of national strategies and goals on the issue. In order to figure out to what extent the accession strategies and goals have been realized, TUIK (Turkish Statistical Institute) formed a national and international economic indicators database. In this study, based on this attempt, with the help of the economic indicators selected, it was aimed to present both the development of Turkey and its place among the EU countries and candidate countries for EU membership. In terms of all the economic indicators defined, it was seen that Turkey has steadily developed by years. However, while it falls behind candidate countries for EU membership in many indices such as Turkey Education Index, Health Index, Human Development Index, it has better outcomes only in Income Index and Gross Domestic Product Per Capita Index. Therefore, the data reveal that the developments in Turkey are inadequate and more serious steps should be taken on the issue.