Population rebounds in earthquake-hit region, official says

ANKARA

Turkish provinces devastated by last year's earthquakes have seen a resurgence in their populations, says Atay Uslu, the head of the parliament's subcommittee on migration and adaptation.

Uslu revealed that regions that experienced rapid population decline post-earthquake have now begun to approach their former demographic levels.

Adıyaman, with a pre-earthquake population of 635,000, has seen its numbers rise to 604,000. Similarly, Hatay, which previously had 1.65 million inhabitants, now counts 1.55 million residents, while Kahramanmaraş, formerly home to 1.17 million people, now has 1.15 million.

Moreover, Gaziantep has not only recovered its pre-earthquake population but has surpassed it.

The earthquakes in February last year directly impacted 11 provinces in the southern region of Türkiye, prompting widespread migration. Approximately 3.7 million citizens fled the affected areas in the aftermath, as noted by Atay, who leads a sub-commission of the parliament's human rights investigation body.

Providing further insight into the situation, Atay mentioned that nearly 600,000 individuals currently reside in an area constructed from 215,000 containers. Additionally, efforts to rebuild have been underway, with over 250,000 houses renovated and another 300,000 new residences in various stages of construction, he added.

The population figures cited by Atay rely on state statistics agency TÜİK's data released earlier this week.

Other provinces affected by the earthquakes have experienced mixed population changes. Malatya, for instance, witnessed a decline from 812,000 to 742,000 residents, while Osmaniye saw a slight decrease of 2,000 people from its pre-earthquake population of 559,000.

Conversely, Şanlıurfa's population increased from 2.17 million to 2.21 million, and Kilis saw an uptick from 147,000 to 155,000 inhabitants.

The shifts in population dynamics come amid a broader demographic trend in Türkiye. Despite the earthquake's toll, Türkiye's overall population saw a modest increase of 92,824 individuals, reaching 85.37 million in 2023. However, the growth represents a significant slowdown compared to previous years, with the annual growth rate dropping to 1.1 per thousand, the lowest in 15 years.

The earthquakes resulted in a staggering loss of 53,537 lives and left over 14 million people directly affected. The toll update after a year-long hiatus revealed more than 107,000 injuries across a vast area spanning 120,000 square kilometers.