Turkey Map: 81 Provinces & 7 Regions (Interactive)

Turkey (Türkiye) has no states. It has 81 provinces in 7 geographical regions, and 86,092,168 registered residents on 31 December 2025, 3.0% more than in 2020. The capital is Ankara. Istanbul, with 15,754,053 people, is the largest city. On this interactive map of Turkey, click a region or province to see its capital, population, area, plate code and UNESCO sites, or type a town in the search box to find its province. View by shades the Turkey map by population, GDP or the 12 statistical regions.

How to use this Turkey map

Every region and province on this map of Turkey is clickable.

Explore a region: click or tap one of the 7 regions, for example Marmara or the Black Sea, to open its provinces, population, area, landmarks and food. Switch the Regions / Provinces toggle to see all 81 provinces on their own.
Compare data: use View by to color the map by the 7 geographical regions (the default), the 12 statistical regions, metropolitan or regular province, licence plate code, population, population change from 2020 to 2025, density, area, GDP per capita or UNESCO sites.
Find a town: type a town in the search box to see its province and region. It answers questions such as which province Bodrum, Alanya or Pamukkale is in, and it covers all 973 districts.
Print it: Printables has a labelled map of Turkey, a blank map and a blank map in the seven region colors.
Take the data: Export downloads all 81 provinces as CSV with a citation.

We publish the same kind of map for other countries, all listed under country maps: regions of Italy, regions of Japan and regions of Switzerland are three of them. For the continent, see Asia, and for everything we have on the country, Turkey.

Where is Turkey?

Turkey lies where southeastern Europe meets southwestern Asia. Almost all of it, the peninsula of Anatolia, is in Asia. A smaller part, East Thrace, is in Europe, on the far side of the Bosphorus. Its provinces add up to 780,040 km², lakes included.

On a map of Turkey and its surroundings, eight countries share a land border:

Greece and Bulgaria to the northwest, along the edge of Thrace.
Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan (through its Nakhchivan exclave) and Iran to the east.
Iraq and Syria to the south.

The Black Sea forms the north coast, the Aegean the west and the Mediterranean the south. The Sea of Marmara sits inside the country, linked to the Black Sea by the Bosphorus and to the Aegean by the Dardanelles. See also the countries that border Turkey, the Black Sea bordering countries and the countries in Eurasia.

Thrace and Anatolia: is Turkey in Europe or Asia?

Turkey is in both, and mostly in Asia. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles are the usual dividing line between Europe and Asia. West of that line is East Thrace (Trakya), about 23,800 km² or roughly 3% of the country. East of it is Anatolia, the other 97%.

Three provinces lie wholly in Thrace: Edirne, Kırklareli and Tekirdağ. Together they hold 2,010,474 people on 18,794 km². Istanbul and Çanakkale are split, with the Bosphorus running through Istanbul and the Dardanelles through Çanakkale. The European part of Istanbul and the Gallipoli peninsula belong to Thrace. All five provinces are in the Marmara region, but Marmara is larger than Thrace: it also holds six provinces that lie entirely in Anatolia.

The 7 regions of Turkey

The seven geographical regions come from the First Geography Congress of 1941. They group provinces by climate, landforms and economy, are used in schools and atlases, and have no government. The Turkey regions map above colors them. Each province belongs to the region of its provincial capital. Click a column heading to sort.

The 7 regions of Turkey, population on 31 December 2025
Region	Provinces	Population	Area (km²)	Share of population	Largest city
Marmara Region	6 metropolitan provinces and 5 provinces	26,711,525	72,666	31.0%	Esenyurt
Aegean Region	5 metropolitan provinces and 3 provinces	11,011,261	89,339	12.8%	Buca
Mediterranean Region	5 metropolitan provinces and 3 provinces	11,028,175	89,516	12.8%	Seyhan
Central Anatolia Region	4 metropolitan provinces and 9 provinces	13,809,574	187,227	16.0%	Cankaya
Black Sea Region	3 metropolitan provinces and 15 provinces	8,041,038	116,379	9.3%	Ortahisar
Eastern Anatolia Region	3 metropolitan provinces and 11 provinces	5,902,603	148,966	6.9%	Elazig
Southeastern Anatolia Region	4 metropolitan provinces and 5 provinces	9,587,992	75,947	11.1%	Sahinbey

Marmara has 31.0% of the population on 9.3% of the land. Central Anatolia is the opposite: 24.0% of the area and 16.0% of the people. Eastern Anatolia holds 19.1% of the area and 6.9% of the people, and it is the only region that lost residents between 2020 and 2025 (down 2.6%). The Black Sea has the most provinces, 18, but only 9.3% of the population. Southeastern Anatolia grew fastest, by 5.1%.

The regions of Turkey one by one

Marmara (Balıkesir, Bilecik, Bursa, Çanakkale, Edirne, Istanbul, Kırklareli, Kocaeli, Sakarya, Tekirdağ, Yalova) surrounds the Sea of Marmara and has 26,711,525 people. Istanbul alone has 15,754,053, and Bursa, with 3,263,011, is the fourth most populous province in the country. For the city itself, see the largest cities in Europe by area.

Aegean (Afyonkarahisar, Aydın, Denizli, Izmir, Kütahya, Manisa, Muğla, Uşak) runs along the west coast with 11,011,261 people. Izmir has 4,504,185, the third most of any province. Ephesus and Pergamon are in Izmir, Aphrodisias in Aydın, Hierapolis-Pamukkale in Denizli and Sardis in Manisa. Bodrum, Marmaris and Fethiye are districts of Muğla.

Mediterranean (Adana, Antalya, Burdur, Hatay, Isparta, Mersin, Kahramanmaraş, Osmaniye) has 11,028,175 people on the southern coast, behind the Taurus Mountains. Antalya has 2,777,677 and grew 9.0% since 2020. The Çukurova plain, a citrus and cotton area, is also in the region. Hatay and Kahramanmaraş, both hit by the 2023 earthquakes, are in this region.

Central Anatolia (Ankara, Çankırı, Eskişehir, Kayseri, Kırşehir, Konya, Nevşehir, Niğde, Sivas, Yozgat, Aksaray, Karaman, Kırıkkale) is the high interior plateau, with 13,809,574 people on 187,227 km². Ankara has 5,910,320. Konya, at 40,838 km², is the largest province in the country. Cappadocia is in Nevşehir, and the region also holds Tuz Gölü, the Salt Lake, and the Seljuk center of Konya.

Black Sea (Amasya, Artvin, Bolu, Çorum, Giresun, Gümüşhane, Kastamonu, Ordu, Rize, Samsun, Sinop, Tokat, Trabzon, Zonguldak, Bayburt, Bartın, Karabük, Düzce) has 18 provinces, more than any other region, and 8,041,038 people. Samsun is the largest with 1,392,403. Only three of the 18, Ordu, Samsun and Trabzon, are metropolitan.

Eastern Anatolia (Ağrı, Bingöl, Bitlis, Elazığ, Erzincan, Erzurum, Hakkâri, Kars, Malatya, Muş, Tunceli, Van, Ardahan, Iğdır) is the least densely populated region, with 5,902,603 people on 148,966 km². Van has 1,112,013. Tunceli has 11.2 people per km², the lowest density of any province. The ruins of Ani are in Kars.

Southeastern Anatolia (Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Gaziantep, Mardin, Siirt, Şanlıurfa, Batman, Şırnak, Kilis) has 9,587,992 people. Şanlıurfa (2,265,800), Gaziantep (2,222,415) and Diyarbakır (1,852,356) lead. Göbekli Tepe is in Şanlıurfa and Nemrut Dağ in Adıyaman. Şanlıurfa also has the lowest GDP per capita in the country.

All 81 provinces of Turkey

The table lists the provinces of Turkey with their capitals, regions and populations. Click a heading to sort, or a province name to open its card on the map. Population is the TurkStat figure for 31 December 2025, and area includes lakes.

All 81 provinces

Plate	Province	Capital	Type	Region	Population	Area (km²)	Province since
01	Adana	Adana	Metropolitan province	Mediterranean Region	2,283,609	13,844	1923
02	Adiyaman	Adiyaman	Province	Southeastern Anatolia Region	617,821	7,337	1954
03	Afyonkarahisar	Afyonkarahisar	Province	Aegean Region	751,808	14,016	1923
04	Agri	Agri	Province	Eastern Anatolia Region	491,489	11,099	1923
05	Amasya	Amasya	Province	Black Sea Region	342,242	5,628	1923
06	Ankara	Ankara	Metropolitan province	Central Anatolia Region	5,910,320	25,632	1923
07	Antalya	Antalya	Metropolitan province	Mediterranean Region	2,777,677	20,177	1923
08	Artvin	Artvin	Province	Black Sea Region	167,531	7,393	1935
09	Aydin	Aydin	Metropolitan province	Aegean Region	1,172,107	8,116	1923
10	Balikesir	Balikesir	Metropolitan province	Marmara Region	1,284,517	14,583	1923
11	Bilecik	Bilecik	Province	Marmara Region	228,995	4,179	1923
12	Bingol	Bingol	Province	Eastern Anatolia Region	282,299	8,003	1935
13	Bitlis	Bitlis	Province	Eastern Anatolia Region	360,423	8,294	1935
14	Bolu	Bolu	Province	Black Sea Region	327,173	8,313	1923
15	Burdur	Burdur	Province	Mediterranean Region	277,226	7,175	1923
16	Bursa	Bursa	Metropolitan province	Marmara Region	3,263,011	10,813	1923
17	Canakkale	Canakkale	Province	Marmara Region	573,976	9,817	1923
18	Cankiri	Cankiri	Province	Central Anatolia Region	200,549	7,542	1923
19	Corum	Corum	Province	Black Sea Region	519,590	12,428	1923
20	Denizli	Denizli	Metropolitan province	Aegean Region	1,060,975	12,134	1923
21	Diyarbakir	Diyarbakir	Metropolitan province	Southeastern Anatolia Region	1,852,356	15,101	1923
22	Edirne	Edirne	Province	Marmara Region	422,438	6,145	1923
23	Elazig	Elazig	Province	Eastern Anatolia Region	605,678	9,383	1923
24	Erzincan	Erzincan	Province	Eastern Anatolia Region	239,625	11,815	1923
25	Erzurum	Erzurum	Metropolitan province	Eastern Anatolia Region	736,877	25,006	1923
26	Eskisehir	Eskisehir	Metropolitan province	Central Anatolia Region	927,956	13,960	1923
27	Gaziantep	Gaziantep	Metropolitan province	Southeastern Anatolia Region	2,222,415	6,803	1923
28	Giresun	Giresun	Province	Black Sea Region	455,074	6,972	1923
29	Gumushane	Gumushane	Province	Black Sea Region	138,807	6,668	1923
30	Hakkari	Hakkari	Province	Eastern Anatolia Region	279,681	7,095	1935
31	Hatay	Antakya	Metropolitan province	Mediterranean Region	1,577,531	5,524	1939
32	Isparta	Isparta	Province	Mediterranean Region	445,303	8,946	1923
33	Mersin	Mersin	Metropolitan province	Mediterranean Region	1,956,428	16,010	1923
34	Istanbul	Istanbul	Metropolitan province	Marmara Region	15,754,053	5,461	1923
35	Izmir	Izmir	Metropolitan province	Aegean Region	4,504,185	11,891	1923
36	Kars	Kars	Province	Eastern Anatolia Region	268,991	10,193	1923
37	Kastamonu	Kastamonu	Province	Black Sea Region	379,934	13,064	1923
38	Kayseri	Kayseri	Metropolitan province	Central Anatolia Region	1,458,991	16,970	1923
39	Kirklareli	Kirklareli	Province	Marmara Region	379,595	6,459	1923
40	Kirsehir	Kirsehir	Province	Central Anatolia Region	242,777	6,584	1957
41	Kocaeli	Izmit	Metropolitan province	Marmara Region	2,161,171	3,397	1923
42	Konya	Konya	Metropolitan province	Central Anatolia Region	2,343,409	40,838	1923
43	Kutahya	Kutahya	Province	Aegean Region	570,478	11,634	1923
44	Malatya	Malatya	Metropolitan province	Eastern Anatolia Region	755,854	12,259	1923
45	Manisa	Manisa	Metropolitan province	Aegean Region	1,477,756	13,339	1923
46	Kahramanmaras	Kahramanmaras	Metropolitan province	Mediterranean Region	1,146,278	14,520	1923
47	Mardin	Mardin	Metropolitan province	Southeastern Anatolia Region	903,576	8,780	1923
48	Mugla	Mugla	Metropolitan province	Aegean Region	1,099,547	12,654	1923
49	Mus	Mus	Province	Eastern Anatolia Region	389,127	8,718	1923
50	Nevsehir	Nevsehir	Province	Central Anatolia Region	320,150	5,485	1954
51	Nigde	Nigde	Province	Central Anatolia Region	374,492	7,234	1923
52	Ordu	Ordu	Metropolitan province	Black Sea Region	768,087	5,914	1923
53	Rize	Rize	Province	Black Sea Region	346,947	3,835	1935
54	Sakarya	Adapazari	Metropolitan province	Marmara Region	1,123,693	4,824	1954
55	Samsun	Samsun	Metropolitan province	Black Sea Region	1,392,403	9,725	1923
56	Siirt	Siirt	Province	Southeastern Anatolia Region	332,369	5,717	1923
57	Sinop	Sinop	Province	Black Sea Region	225,848	5,717	1923
58	Sivas	Sivas	Province	Central Anatolia Region	631,401	28,164	1923
59	Tekirdag	Tekirdag	Metropolitan province	Marmara Region	1,208,441	6,190	1923
60	Tokat	Tokat	Province	Black Sea Region	614,141	10,042	1923
61	Trabzon	Trabzon	Metropolitan province	Black Sea Region	823,323	4,628	1923
62	Tunceli	Tunceli	Province	Eastern Anatolia Region	85,083	7,582	1935
63	Sanliurfa	Sanliurfa	Metropolitan province	Southeastern Anatolia Region	2,265,800	19,242	1923
64	Usak	Usak	Province	Aegean Region	374,405	5,555	1953
65	Van	Van	Metropolitan province	Eastern Anatolia Region	1,112,013	20,921	1923
66	Yozgat	Yozgat	Province	Central Anatolia Region	413,208	13,690	1923
67	Zonguldak	Zonguldak	Province	Black Sea Region	585,203	3,342	1923
68	Aksaray	Aksaray	Province	Central Anatolia Region	441,136	7,659	1989
69	Bayburt	Bayburt	Province	Black Sea Region	82,836	3,746	1989
70	Karaman	Karaman	Province	Central Anatolia Region	262,355	8,678	1989
71	Kirikkale	Kirikkale	Province	Central Anatolia Region	282,830	4,791	1989
72	Batman	Batman	Province	Southeastern Anatolia Region	662,626	4,477	1990
73	Sirnak	Sirnak	Province	Southeastern Anatolia Region	573,666	7,078	1990
74	Bartin	Bartin	Province	Black Sea Region	206,663	2,330	1991
75	Ardahan	Ardahan	Province	Eastern Anatolia Region	90,392	4,934	1992
76	Igdir	Igdir	Province	Eastern Anatolia Region	205,071	3,664	1992
77	Yalova	Yalova	Province	Marmara Region	311,635	798	1995
78	Karabuk	Karabuk	Province	Black Sea Region	249,614	4,142	1995
79	Kilis	Kilis	Province	Southeastern Anatolia Region	157,363	1,412	1995
80	Osmaniye	Osmaniye	Province	Mediterranean Region	564,123	3,320	1996
81	Duzce	Duzce	Province	Black Sea Region	415,622	2,492	1999

Turkey had 86,092,168 registered residents at the end of 2025, or 112.0 per km² on TurkStat’s area base. That is 2,477,806 more than the 83,614,362 registered at the end of 2020. Ten provinces have more than 2 million people and 24 have more than 1 million. Istanbul holds 18.3% of the country, and with Ankara and Izmir 30.4%.

Provinces and capitals of Turkey

Ankara is the capital of Turkey and has been since 1923. It is the second most populous province after Istanbul (15,754,053), with 5,910,320 people. Istanbul is the largest city, which is why it is often taken for the capital.

In 78 of the 81 provinces the capital has the same name as the province. The exceptions:

Hatay: the capital is Antakya, ancient Antioch.
Kocaeli: the capital is Izmit, ancient Nicomedia.
Sakarya: the capital is Adapazarı. The province is named after the Sakarya river.

In six provinces a district other than the capital’s has more residents (district populations include villages): Gebze (414,960) in Kocaeli, Ereğli (173,884) in Zonguldak, Lüleburgaz (157,136) in Kırklareli, Cizre (166,290) in Şırnak, Yüksekova (121,314) in Hakkâri and Tatvan (105,045) in Bitlis.

Does Turkey have states?

No. Turkey has provinces, called il, not states. It is a unitary state, not a federation, and its 81 provinces are administrative divisions of the central government. Each province is run by a governor (vali) appointed by the central government and has no legislature of its own. The provinces are divided into 973 districts (ilçe).

The “states of Turkey” on a Turkey states map are therefore the 81 provinces. The seven regions and the 12 statistical regions are groupings above the provinces, and neither has a government.

Metropolitan and regular provinces

Turkey has 30 metropolitan provinces and 51 regular ones. In a metropolitan province (büyükşehir) a single metropolitan municipality covers the whole province, not only the city. Law 6360 of 2012 created the 30, and no province has been added since.

The 30 metropolitan provinces are Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Aydın, Balıkesir, Bursa, Denizli, Diyarbakır, Erzurum, Eskişehir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Istanbul, Izmir, Kahramanmaraş, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Konya, Malatya, Manisa, Mardin, Mersin, Muğla, Ordu, Sakarya, Samsun, Şanlıurfa, Tekirdağ, Trabzon and Van. They hold 67,324,359 people, 78.2% of the country, on 51.2% of the area. The share varies by region: Marmara has 6 of its 11 provinces in the group, the Aegean 5 of 8 and the Mediterranean 5 of 8, while the Black Sea has 3 of 18 and Eastern Anatolia 3 of 14.

Licence plate codes of Turkey

Every Turkish province has a number from 01 to 81, and it is the first two digits of a vehicle licence plate. Istanbul is 34, Ankara 06, Izmir 35 and Antalya 07. The same number ends the ISO 3166-2 code, such as TR-34 for Istanbul.

The codes 01 to 67 follow the alphabet. Adana is 01, Adıyaman 02, Afyonkarahisar 03, and the list runs to Zonguldak at 67. They went to the 67 provinces that existed at the time: the 55 that predate the Republic and the 12 created from 1935 to 1957. Provinces that were later renamed kept their slot. Mersin is 33 because it sat in the alphabet under its former name, İçel, between Isparta (32) and Istanbul (34). Kahramanmaraş is 46, between Manisa and Mardin, and Şanlıurfa is 63, between Tunceli and Uşak, for the same reason.

The 14 provinces created from 1989 on received 68 to 81 in order of creation. Aksaray is 68 and Düzce, the newest, is 81. So the first 67 numbers follow the alphabet and the last 14 follow the order of creation.

The 7 geographical regions and the 12 statistical regions

TurkStat divides Turkey a second way for statistics. The 12 statistical regions are the NUTS-1 level (IBBS Düzey 1), and they sit above 26 subregions and the 81 provinces. They are named like the geographical regions, but their borders differ. Nine of the 12 sit inside a single geographical region. Three, East Marmara, West Black Sea and Northeast Anatolia, take in provinces from another one.

Code	Statistical region	Provinces	Population	Members
TR1	Istanbul	1	15,754,053	Istanbul
TR2	West Marmara	5	3,868,967	Balıkesir, Çanakkale, Edirne, Kırklareli, Tekirdağ
TR3	Aegean	8	11,011,261	Afyonkarahisar, Aydın, Denizli, Izmir, Kütahya, Manisa, Muğla, Uşak
TR4	East Marmara	8	8,759,256	Bilecik, Bolu, Bursa, Eskişehir, Kocaeli, Sakarya, Yalova, Düzce
TR5	West Anatolia	3	8,516,084	Ankara, Konya, Karaman
TR6	Mediterranean	8	11,028,175	Adana, Antalya, Burdur, Hatay, Isparta, Mersin, Kahramanmaraş, Osmaniye
TR7	Central Anatolia	8	4,164,985	Kayseri, Kırşehir, Nevşehir, Niğde, Sivas, Yozgat, Aksaray, Kırıkkale
TR8	West Black Sea	10	4,716,187	Amasya, Çankırı, Çorum, Kastamonu, Samsun, Sinop, Tokat, Zonguldak, Bartın, Karabük
TR9	East Black Sea	6	2,699,769	Artvin, Giresun, Gümüşhane, Ordu, Rize, Trabzon
TRA	Northeast Anatolia	7	2,115,281	Ağrı, Erzincan, Erzurum, Kars, Bayburt, Ardahan, Iğdır
TRB	Central East Anatolia	8	3,870,158	Bingöl, Bitlis, Elazığ, Hakkâri, Malatya, Muş, Tunceli, Van
TRC	Southeast Anatolia	9	9,587,992	Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Gaziantep, Mardin, Siirt, Şanlıurfa, Batman, Şırnak, Kilis

Five provinces sit in a statistical region that is mostly made of another geographical region:

Province	Geographical region	Statistical region
Eskişehir	Central Anatolia	East Marmara (TR4)
Bolu	Black Sea	East Marmara (TR4)
Düzce	Black Sea	East Marmara (TR4)
Çankırı	Central Anatolia	West Black Sea (TR8)
Bayburt	Black Sea	Northeast Anatolia (TRA)

The names mislead in one place in particular. The geographical region of Central Anatolia has 13 provinces and 13,809,574 people. The statistical region called Central Anatolia (TR7) has 8 and 4,164,985, because Ankara, Konya and Karaman form West Anatolia, Eskişehir goes to East Marmara and Çankırı to the West Black Sea. Ankara is in the Central Anatolia region and in the West Anatolia statistical region. Marmara works the other way: one geographical region splits into three statistical ones, Istanbul, West Marmara and East Marmara. Region borders also cut through some provinces, and the province cards note this for Ankara, Balıkesir, Bilecik, Bursa, Eskişehir, Gaziantep and Konya.

Tourist regions: Thrace, Turquoise Coast, Cappadocia

Travel writing uses names that are not official regions. They follow coasts and landscapes, so they cut across provinces and across the seven regions.

Name	Provinces	Note
Thrace (Trakya)	Edirne, Kırklareli, Tekirdağ, plus the European parts of Istanbul and Çanakkale	Part of the Marmara region, which also holds Anatolian provinces
Anatolia	All other provinces	The Asian part of Turkey, and part of three region names
Turquoise Coast	Approximately Antalya and Muğla, with parts of Aydın, southern Izmir and western Mersin	Usage varies. It spans the Aegean and Mediterranean regions
Cappadocia	Centered on Nevşehir (Göreme, Ürgüp, Avanos)	Not a province. The wider area reaches into neighboring Central Anatolian provinces, depending on the definition
Black Sea coast	The Black Sea region, split into West Black Sea (10 provinces) and East Black Sea (Artvin, Giresun, Gümüşhane, Ordu, Rize, Trabzon)	The region and the two statistical regions use different borders

A province map cannot show where people of a given language or ethnic group live, and we do not draw one. For the people of Turkey, read our pages on ethnic groups, languages spoken in Turkey, official languages and indigenous languages.

Which province is it in?

Search a town on the map to see its province and region. These are the places visitors ask about most, and a few sit in a different region than the coast suggests.

Place	Province	Region
Bodrum	Muğla	Aegean
Marmaris	Muğla	Aegean
Fethiye	Muğla	Aegean
Dalaman	Muğla	Aegean
Antalya	Antalya	Mediterranean
Alanya	Antalya	Mediterranean
Kaş	Antalya	Mediterranean
Side	Antalya	Mediterranean
Kuşadası	Aydın	Aegean
Çeşme	Izmir	Aegean
Selçuk (Ephesus)	Izmir	Aegean
Pamukkale	Denizli	Aegean
Ayvalık	Balıkesir	Marmara
Troy	Çanakkale	Marmara
Göreme	Nevşehir	Central Anatolia
Safranbolu	Karabük	Black Sea

Ayvalık looks like an Aegean resort but sits in Balıkesir, a Marmara province. Cappadocia is not a province: the towns visitors use as a base, Göreme and Ürgüp, are in Nevşehir. Istanbul is a province, a city and a metropolitan municipality at once.

Largest and smallest provinces

Measure	Highest	Lowest
Area	Konya, 40,838 km²	Yalova, 798 km²
Population	Istanbul, 15,754,053	Bayburt, 82,836
Density per km²	Istanbul, 2,943.4	Tunceli, 11.2
GDP per capita, 2024	Istanbul, TRY 802,669	Şanlıurfa, TRY 188,144
Population change, 2020 to 2025	Yalova, +12.9%	Ağrı, −8.2%
Districts	Istanbul, 39	Bayburt, 3

Konya covers 5.2% of the country, and Yalova would fit into it 51 times. Istanbul has 190 times the population of Bayburt. Tunceli (85,083) and Ardahan (90,392) are the only other provinces under 100,000, and 14 have fewer than 250,000 residents. See also the smallest cities in Turkey.

GDP per capita for 2024 is TRY 503,076 for Turkey as a whole, about US$15,325. Istanbul (TRY 802,669), Kocaeli (788,873) and Ankara (788,859) are within 2% of each other at the top, about 1.6 times the national figure. Eleven provinces are above the national figure: those three plus Tekirdağ, Antalya, Izmir, Bolu, Kırklareli, Eskişehir, Bilecik and Muğla. Şanlıurfa, Ağrı and Van are lowest, and Şanlıurfa’s figure is 37% of the national one. GDP per capita measures what firms located in a province produce, not what residents earn. The GDP layer maps all 81, in Turkish lira.

Population change since 2020 and the 2023 earthquakes

Turkey grew 3.0% between 2020 and 2025. Sixty-two provinces grew and 19 shrank. The fastest growth was in Yalova (+12.9%), Tekirdağ (+11.8%), Kilis (+10.2%), Muğla (+9.9%) and Antalya (+9.0%). The sharpest falls were in Ağrı (−8.2%), Malatya (−6.2%), Ardahan (−6.0%), Kars (−5.6%), Muş (−5.3%) and Hatay (−4.9%). The counts are registered population, not people living there.

The earthquakes of 6 February 2023 fall inside that window. Four of the provinces they hit were smaller in 2025 than in 2020:

Province	31 Dec 2020	31 Dec 2025	Change
Hatay	1,659,320	1,577,531	−4.9%
Malatya	806,156	755,854	−6.2%
Adıyaman	632,459	617,821	−2.3%
Kahramanmaraş	1,168,163	1,146,278	−1.9%

Other provinces in the affected area, such as Gaziantep (+5.8%) and Osmaniye (+2.8%), ended 2025 above their 2020 count. Ağrı, Ardahan, Kars and Muş also fell, and Eastern Anatolia as a region lost 2.6%. The change layer shows all 81 provinces.

Districts of Turkey: 973 or 922?

Turkey has 973 districts (ilçe) in its 81 provinces. TurkStat’s headline figure is 922, because its district count leaves out the 51 central districts of the regular provinces, the district that holds the provincial capital. Add the 51 back and the total is 973. The metropolitan provinces have no separate central district in that table, so they are counted in full.

Istanbul has the most districts (39), then Konya (31), Izmir (30) and Ankara (25). Bayburt has 3, and Bartın, Iğdır and Kilis have 4 each. The 30 metropolitan provinces hold 519 districts and the 51 regular ones 454. TurkStat’s count has stayed at 922 every year since 2018.

Will Turkey get more provinces?

Turkey still has 81 provinces on 11 November 2026. Düzce became the 81st in 1999, and no province has been created or merged since. New provinces need a law passed by the Grand National Assembly and published in the Official Gazette, and none has passed.

Proposals exist. Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), restated his “100 provinces, 1,000 districts” plan on 1 and 2 November 2026: 19 new provinces and 78 new districts. A bill to make Ereğli, a district of Konya, the 82nd province is pending. In June 2026 a report of 25 new provinces was denied by the Presidency’s Communications Directorate. This map shows the 81 provinces that exist today.

UNESCO World Heritage sites by province

Turkey has 22 UNESCO World Heritage properties. The most recent was Sardis and the Lydian Tumuli of Bin Tepe in Manisa, inscribed in 2025, and none were added in 2026. A property that crosses a province border counts in each province it touches, so the lists below add up to 27.

Property	Provinces
Historic Areas of Istanbul	Istanbul
Archaeological Site of Troy	Çanakkale
Selimiye Mosque and its Social Complex	Edirne
Bursa and Cumalıkızık: the Birth of the Ottoman Empire	Bursa
Ephesus	Izmir
Pergamon and its Multi-Layered Cultural Landscape	Izmir
Sardis and the Lydian Tumuli of Bin Tepe	Manisa
Aphrodisias	Aydın
Hierapolis-Pamukkale	Denizli
Xanthos-Letoon	Antalya, Muğla
Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia	Nevşehir
Neolithic Site of Çatalhöyük	Konya
Gordion	Ankara
Wooden Hypostyle Mosques of Medieval Anatolia	Afyonkarahisar, Ankara, Eskişehir, Kastamonu, Konya
City of Safranbolu	Karabük
Hattusha: the Hittite Capital	Çorum
Great Mosque and Hospital of Divriği	Sivas
Nemrut Dağ	Adıyaman
Göbekli Tepe	Şanlıurfa
Diyarbakır Fortress and Hevsel Gardens Cultural Landscape	Diyarbakır
Arslantepe Mound	Malatya
Archaeological Site of Ani	Kars

Twenty-four provinces have at least one property, and 57 have none. Izmir, Ankara and Konya have two each. The wooden mosques are a serial property spread over five provinces, and Xanthos-Letoon straddles the Antalya and Muğla border. The UNESCO layer counts the properties per province.

Frequently asked questions

What is the capital of Turkey?

Ankara is the capital of Turkey and has been since 1923. It has 5,910,320 residents, the second most of any province. Istanbul is larger, with 15,754,053, and is often mistaken for the capital, but the national government and parliament sit in Ankara.

Where is Turkey located?

Turkey is in southwest Asia and southeast Europe, between the Black Sea to the north and the Mediterranean to the south. About 97% of it is Anatolia, in Asia, and East Thrace in Europe is the rest. It borders Greece, Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq and Syria.

Does Turkey have states or provinces?

Turkey has provinces, not states. It is a unitary country divided into 81 provinces (il), which are split into 973 districts (ilçe). Governors appointed by the central government run the provinces, and they have no legislatures of their own. The 7 regions and 12 statistical regions are groupings, not levels of government.

How many provinces does Turkey have?

Turkey has 81 provinces. Düzce became the 81st in 1999, and none has been added since. Thirty are metropolitan provinces and 51 are regular provinces. Proposals for new provinces exist, including a bill for Ereğli in Konya, but no law creating one had passed by November 2026.

What are the 7 regions of Turkey?

The 7 regions are Marmara, Aegean, Mediterranean, Central Anatolia, Black Sea, Eastern Anatolia and Southeastern Anatolia. They were defined in 1941 and hold 11, 8, 8, 13, 18, 14 and 9 provinces in that order. Marmara has the most people, Central Anatolia the most land and the Black Sea the most provinces.

Is it Turkey or Türkiye?

Both name the same country. Türkiye is the Turkish spelling, and Turkey’s government asked the United Nations to use it in English as well, in a letter dated 31 May 2022 that the UN registered on 1 June 2022. Turkey is still the common English word, so this page uses both.

What is the population of Turkey, and which province is largest?

Turkey had 86,092,168 registered residents on 31 December 2025. Istanbul is the largest province with 15,754,053, or 18.3% of the total, followed by Ankara with 5,910,320 and Izmir with 4,504,185. Bayburt is the smallest with 82,836.

Is Turkey in Europe or Asia?

Turkey is in both, but mostly in Asia. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles separate East Thrace in Europe from Anatolia in Asia. Thrace is roughly 3% of the country. Istanbul sits on both sides of the Bosphorus, so one province spans the two continents.

How do the 7 regions differ from the 12 statistical regions?

The 7 geographical regions date from 1941 and describe geography and climate, while the 12 statistical regions (NUTS-1) are TurkStat’s units for statistics. Nine of the 12 sit inside one geographical region. Five provinces cross the line: Eskişehir, Bolu, Düzce, Çankırı and Bayburt. Neither set has a government.

Which province are Istanbul, Bodrum, Antalya and Pamukkale in?

Istanbul and Antalya are provinces and cities of the same name. Bodrum is a district of Muğla and Pamukkale a district of Denizli. Cappadocia is not a province, and its best-known towns, Göreme and Ürgüp, are in Nevşehir. Type any other town into the search box above the map to see its province.

What is a metropolitan province in Turkey?

A metropolitan province has a single metropolitan municipality that covers the whole province, not only its main city. Turkey has 30, created under Law 6360 of 2012, from Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir to Trabzon and Van. The other 51 provinces are regular provinces, and none has been added to the 30 since 2012.

Which provinces did the 2023 earthquake affect, and how did their populations change?

The earthquakes of 6 February 2023 hit the south-east, and four provinces were smaller in 2025 than in 2020: Hatay (1,577,531, down 4.9%), Malatya (755,854, down 6.2%), Adıyaman (617,821, down 2.3%) and Kahramanmaraş (1,146,278, down 1.9%). The counts are registered population, not people living there.

Sources and methodology

Population: TurkStat (TUIK), Address Based Population Registration System (ADNKS) 2025, population registered at the address of residence on 31 December 2025, published 9 February 2026, with the 31 December 2020 figure from the same series on today’s provincial structure. The 81 provinces sum to the national total of 86,092,168, and the 973 district figures sum to the same total.
Area: the General Directorate of Mapping (HGM) surface area of each province, including lakes, as printed in the Turkish Wikipedia province table that cites it. The provinces sum to 780,040 km². The HGM website was unreachable when we checked, so the figures are second-hand. Density is TurkStat’s published 2025 density, which divides by a different area base (768,949 km² in total), so density does not equal population divided by the area shown.
Boundaries and districts: OCHA COD-AB Turkiye administrative boundaries, from the General Command of Mapping at 1:1,000,000 (CC BY-IGO). The file has 81 provinces and 973 districts. We simplified it and combined it.
GDP per capita: TurkStat, Gross Domestic Product by Provinces, 2024, published 11 December 2025, in Turkish lira at current prices, rounded to whole lira. NUTS codes come from the same workbook.
Regions: the seven geographical regions of the 1941 First Geography Congress, one region per province as in the Turkish Wikipedia province table, by provincial capital. The 12 statistical regions and 26 subregions are TurkStat’s NUTS classification.
Metropolitan provinces and districts: 30 provinces under Law 6360 of 2012, derived from the “Merkez” rows of TurkStat’s district table, the Turkish Wikipedia table and the boundary file. TurkStat’s count of 922 districts leaves out 51 central districts, as its table footnote states.
Plate codes and founding years: codes follow ISO 3166-2:TR. Founding dates come from the Ministry of the Interior list of province and district founding dates (2018 edition). The 55 provinces marked as existing before the Republic are dated 1923.
World Heritage: UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 22 properties, checked on 11 November 2026. Serial properties are split by province using their component sites.
New provinces: Turkish press reports of 1 and 2 November 2026 and the Official Gazette law listings for 2025 and 2026. A province requires a law, and none appeared.
Towns: the five most populous districts of each province are TurkStat figures for 31 December 2025, with coordinates from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0) or the district’s representative point.

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Regions of Turkey: Provinces and Regions Map