Life expectancy at birth remains 75.3 for men and 80.7 for women, the latest figures by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) show.

Statistics announced yesterday covering the 2013-2015 period show the average life expectancy at birth is 78 for Turkey, which faces the challenge of an aged population in the coming decades.

The figures, compared to the 2013-2014 period, remain much the same.

For 15-year-olds, who are at the minimum age to start working, the average remaining life expectancy is 64.2 years in general, 61.6 years for males and 66.9 years for females.

The average remaining life expectancy for people at the age of 50 is 30.6 years in general. This lifespan is 28.3 years for males, while it is 32.8 years for females.

An aging population phenomenon is related to Turkey pursuing ambitious economic growth.

The elderly population, or those at the age of 65 and over, was more than 6.4 million in 2015 according to figures, and their proportion to the overall populace rose to 8.2 percent from 8 percent.

Ankara seeks to encourage population growth in the country of 78.7 million people and hopes to boost numbers by offering incentives to larger families such as longer paid leave and social benefits. Since his tenure as prime minister, current President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has continued to promote population growth, advocating that families should have at least three children to boost Turkey's population.

Projections made previously by TurkStat show that the number of elderly people will increase to 10.2 percent by 2023 and rise even further in the following decade. Experts link these projections to a decline in fertility and new treatments being available to increase longevity.

The majority of the elderly population are females, TurkStat figures indicate.

Turkey ranks 66th among 167 countries in terms of the proportion of the elderly population, while Monaco, Japan and Germany dominate the first three spots of the list.