While the population in the government-controlled areas increased by 9.9 per cent over the past ten years, the population in the north has gone up 33.7 per cent during the same period, Turkish Cypriot press reported on Monday.
According to Yeni Duzen, the last ‘official population census in the north took place on December 4, 2011, and at that time the number of people living there was said to be 286,257.
In a population projection made by the ‘statistics office’ within 2021, the population in the north was estimated to be 382,257, an increase of 33.7 over the past ten years compared with an increase of 9.9 per cent in the south of the island.
Referring to “unofficial figures”, the newspaper noted that at least 50,000 Russians, 15,000 Iranians and 140,000 citizens of Turkey live in the north.
The data on the Russians and Iranians were published in the Greek Cypriot press without being confirmed or denied by ‘TRNC authorities’, the newspaper said, recalling that 140,111 Turkish citizens had the right to vote in the elections held in Turkey on May 14, 2023, in compared to 92,171 who were eligible to vote in the 2014 Turkish election.
As of June 25, 2023, the number of voters in the north stood at 210,121, compared with 208,236 in the December 25, 2022 municipal election, 203,792 in the January 2022 early election, 198,867 in the ‘presidential’ election in October 2020.
The newspaper also cites data from the telecommunications organisation report for the first quarter of 2023, according to which there were 955,409 registered mobile phone subscribers in the north and 777,714 active subscribers. The corresponding numbers were 906,330 registered and 750,677 active for 2021 and 819,982 registered and 655,758 active subscribers for 2020.