Border province Kilis home to largest percentage of Syrian migrants in Turkey, figures show

ANKARA

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The southeastern border province of Kilis is home to the largest percentage of Syrian migrants in Turkey, according to figures released by the Turkish Interior Ministry’s Directorate General of Migration Management. 

The ministry said some 95.15 percent of Kilis’ population is made up of Syrian migrants. 

According to the statistics, there are a total of 2,969,669 registered Syrian migrants in Turkey, corresponding to 3.72 percent of the population of Turkey, which is at 79,814,871. 

The directorate said a total of 124,481 Syrians are currently living in Kilis, which has a total population of 130,825. Kilis is followed by the southern province of Hatay with 24.69 percent. The number of registered Syrians in Hatay was announced as 384,024, while the total population of the province is 1,555,165. 

The southeastern province of Şanlıurfa ranked third on the list with the number of registered Syrians constituting some 21.67 percent of the total population, which is at 1,940,627. Şanlıurfa, home to a total of 420,532 Syrian migrants, is followed by the southeastern province of Gaziantep with 16.70 percent. 

According to the statistics, the number of Syrians living in the province is 329,670, while the total population of the province was announced as 1,924,244. 

The resort province of Antalya and the Black Sea provinces of Artvin and Bartın are home to the lowest percentage of Syrian migrants with 0.02 percent each. 

The figures showed that there are a total of 401 registered Syrians in Antalya, which has a total population of 2,328,555. There are 40 Syrians living in Artvin and 33 in Bartın. 

According to the directorate, Istanbul is home to the highest number of Syrian migrants with 479,555 living in the province. The share, however, is 3.24 percent due to Istanbul’s high population of 14,804,116. 

Şanlıurfa, Hatay and Gaziantep came after Istanbul on the list. 

The directorate also released statistics on other foreign nationals living in Turkey with residence permits. According to the statistics, there are some 530,606 foreigners residing in Turkey with permits and Istanbul ranks first with 217,716 people. 

The Turkish capital Ankara followed Istanbul with 59,479 and Antalya ranked third with 52,866. 

The eastern province of Tunceli ranked the lowest on the list with a total of 27 foreigners living with residence permits.