Is Istanbul losing population? The fact is that, in 2025, almost 400,000 people left the city, even though Istanbul remained the country’s main destination for internal migration, according to official data published by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK).
According to the report, a total of 2,475,019 people migrated between provinces in Turkey last year; 47.5% were men and 52.5% were women. Statistics on inter-provincial mobility show that the metropolis on the Bosphorus was the city that received the most migrants last year, with 329,912 people arriving to live in Istanbul; it was followed by Ankara, with 176,833, and Izmir, with 106,083. By contrast, the provinces that received the least migration were Ardahan, with 4,914 people, Bayburt (5,064) and Tunceli (6,078).
Furthermore, the highest level of migratory mobility was recorded in the 20–24 age group, with 480,185 people. As for the main reason for moving from one province to another, migration linked to a member of the family stood out, cited by 564,114 people out of the more than 2.47 million who migrated last year.
Istanbul was the province that lost the most residents
However, the report reveals that Istanbul also ranked first in provincial out-migration over the past year, with a total of 371,258 people leaving the province in 2025. Next came Ankara with 145,661 and Izmir with 98,728. The provinces with the lowest outflow of population to other regions were Ardahan, with 5,916 people, Bayburt (6,388) and Tunceli (7,558).
In other words: more than 371,000 people left Istanbul to move to other provinces over the past year, whilst nearly 330,000 settled in the city, making it both the largest point of departure and the largest destination for internal migrants in Türkiye. Whilst the official figures show a negative net internal migration, with more residents leaving than new inhabitants arriving – due to the departure of young people seeking a lower cost of living and lower rents – in real terms the city maintains slight real population growth and a significant overall demographic impact.
This is because, although the official population of Istanbul stands at around 15.8 million inhabitants, it is estimated that the actual population of the Turkish metropolis ranges between 20 and 21 million people if one includes unregistered residents who retain their legal residence in their cities of origin, the foreign population not included in the official census, and the transient population, which includes – for example – temporary students and people who commute daily to Istanbul to work.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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