Seventy villages across Türkiye are home to 10 people or fewer, according to official data, reflecting the accelerating exodus from rural areas even as the country’s overall population continues to grow.
An analysis of figures released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) shows that Türkiye’s population rose by 427,224 people in 2025, reaching almost 86.1 million. Of this total, 80.56 million people were registered as living in provincial and district centers, pushing the share of the population residing in urban areas to 93.6 percent.
By contrast, the proportion of people living in towns and villages outside the country’s 30 metropolitan provinces fell from 6.6 percent to 6.4 percent. The rural population declined by some 2.1 percent year-on-year, dropping to 5.54 million.
The data reveals stark disparities among villages. While 456 villages nationwide have populations of 1,000 or more, 70 villages are inhabited by 10 people or fewer.
Three villages in Türkiye’s eastern provinces, Kayalıbağ in Bitlis, Çattepe in Siirt and Tarlabaşı in Iğdır, each have only a single registered resident.
Several others count just two or three inhabitants, including the eastern province of Bingöl’s Akımlı and Maltepe villages, the southeastern province of Hakkari's Dilekli and the western province of Kütahya's Kalfalar.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, İpekli village in Adıyaman province's central district stands as Türkiye’s most populous village with 6,681 residents. It is closely followed by Karacaören in northwestern province of Çanakkale with 6,668 people and Adıyaman’s Taşpınar with 6,268 residents.
