Internal migration statistics for 2021 reveal that Türkiye's Istanbul is still a major attraction for migrants from other provinces although it tops the list of cities with the highest number of departees at the same time.

Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) figures released on Wednesday indicate that over 2.7 million people migrated across 81 provinces last year, mainly for education (in terms of traveling to another city or town to attend university or better schools).

Migration between provinces showed little change from the 2007-2008 period, the latest year with concrete data when the internal migration rate was at 3.18%. The number was recorded at 3.28% in 2021. TurkStat highlighted that this proportion will follow a fluctuating course in the coming years.

In 2021, Istanbul received the highest number of migrants from other cities, at over 385,000, joining the growing population of the city, which already exceeded 15 million.

Istanbul was followed by the capital Ankara, which accommodated over 197,000 people and Izmir, the country’s third-largest province. Ardahan in northeastern Türkiye received the lowest number of migrants in 2021, at around 4,000 people, along with Tunceli in the east and Kilis in the south. Kilis was among the top destinations in the past years for refugees from neighboring war-torn Syria.

On the contrary, about 408,165 people left Istanbul in 2021, ahead of Ankara, where 165,604 people left the city. Bayburt, in the Black Sea region, had the lowest number of people leaving, at only around 6,382 people.

The largest internal migration was among people aged between 20 to 24. The fact corroborates with the main purpose of migration: university education. Apart from education, other reasons for internal migration include personal reasons or better housing and living conditions, the statistics underscored.