ISTANBUL 

As many as 577,457 people immigrated to Turkey in 2018, an increase of 23.8% compared to previous year, according to the data issued by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) on Tuesday.

They included 466,890 foreign nationals and 110,567 Turkish citizens, who returned to their country after living abroad or were not registered at their addresses in the previous year.

The numbers included 52.7% males and 47.3% females.

Among foreign immigrants, Iraqis once again ranked first, with 23.6% followed by Afghans and Syrians, with 9.6% and 8.4% respectively.

“In 2018, 11.9% of the immigrants, who arrived Turkey were in the age group of 25-29. Another 11.5% were in the age group of 20-24 and 10.3% were between 30-34 ages,” the TurkStat added.

The data found that Istanbul was the most preferred destination with 202,000 people staying in the metropolis. The capital Ankara was destination of 71,337 people, followed by the Mediterranean city of Antalya, with 36,674 immigrants arriving in the city in 2018.

Meanwhile, in the same period 323,918 people left Turkey for foreign countries, an increase of 27.7% over the previous year. They included 53.3% males and 46.7% females, the data stated.

Iraqis toped this list also with 20.6%, followed by Azerbaijanis 7.4%, Uzbekistanis 7%, Turkmenistanis 5.4% and Iranians 4.9%.

Analyzing their age distribution, it was found that 15.7% of them were in the 25-29 age group and 13.2% each in 20-24 and 30-34 age groups.

The Institute found that 113,430 people emigrated from Istanbul, 28,410 from Ankara and, 18,408 from Antalya.

Turkey also hosts the highest number of refugees -- nearly 4 million -- in the world, according to official figures. The number of Syrian refugees living in the country was 3.63 million as of July.

"Immigration covers Turkish Republic citizens and foreigners who are present in the reference year Address Based Population Registration System (ABPRS) but not in the previous year ABPRS. Emigration covers Turkish Republic citizens and foreigners who are not present in the reference year ABPRS while present in the previous year ABPRS," the TurkStat clarified.