Over 2.7 million people migrated across provinces last year

ISTANBUL

More than 2.7 million people migrated across provinces in Türkiye last year, with Istanbul witnessing the highest provincial-in and provincial-out migration, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) has reported.

TÜİK published the “Internal Migration Statistics“ containing the reasons for internal migration, which was published for the first time based on the Address Based Population Registration System.

The rate of the population migrating across provinces in the country was 3.18 percent in the 2007-2008 period, while this figure raised to 3.28 percent in 2021, following a fluctuating course over the years, statistics show.

TÜİK announced the population migrating across provinces in 2021 as more than 2.7 million people. Of this number, 47.5 percent were men, and 52.5 percent were women.

According to the data, Istanbul was the province that received the most migration, with 385,328 people, followed by the capital Ankara, with 197,702 people, and the western province of İzmir, with 131,394 people, respectively.

While the province with the lowest provincial in-migration was the northeastern province of Ardahan, the number of people migrating to the city in 2021 was only 4,750.

The eastern province of Tunceli, with 7,054 people, and the southern province of Kilis, with 7,474 people, followed Ardahan in terms of the provinces that received the least migration.

On the other hand, Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir, which were announced as the provinces with the highest provincial in-migration, were also the provinces with the highest provincial out-migration.

A total of 408,165 people migrated from Istanbul to other provinces, while Ankara became the second province with the highest provincial out-migration with 165,604 people.

Istanbul and Ankara were followed by İzmir with 109,470 people, who migrated from the western province.

The northern province of Bayburt became the province with the least immigration, while only 6,382 people left the city to reside in another province.

Providing information regarding the age groups in the migration statistics, TÜİK stated that the 20-24 age group had the largest internal mobility in 2021.

The migration in the 20-24 age group was mainly due to educational purposes, as over 396,000 people in this age group migrated to settle in provinces where their universities were located.

Over 84,000 people in the same group migrated in search of better jobs in 2021.