The examination of the economic characteristics of the European Union member states and Turkey by using statistical methods

European Union is an economic and political organisation composed of twenty seven member countries and lands of which is largely in European continent. This Union was established as a result of entry into the force of Maastricht Treaty also known as the European Union Treaty, by giving new duties and responsibilities on to the existing European Economic Community. The Euorepean Union with approximately 500 millions inhabitants, forms 30 % of the world?s nominal gross domestic product. Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Netherlands, England, Ireland, Spain, Sweeden, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Greece are the member countries of the Union.In this study, the compliance of Turkey to the criterias on the road to membership of the European Union was examined. Clustering analysis is applied to certain economic criterias of Turkey and European Union?s twenty seven member countries.By this analysis it is determined that Turkey is in which country groups. Later, convergence analysis is applied to the data of GDP per capita of European Union countries and Turkey. The degree of economically closeness of Turkey to the European Union countries was determined with this analysis.