TurkStat Announces 2025 Higher Education Brain Drain Statistics

According to the 2025 Higher Education Brain Drain Statistics published by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), the brain drain rate among higher education graduates increased to 2.2 percent.

According to TurkStat data, the brain drain rate was 2.7 percent for men and 1.8 percent for women. Examined on a provincial basis, Istanbul became the province with the highest brain drain with a rate of 4 percent, followed by Izmir, Ankara, Eskişehir, and Yalova, respectively. The province with the lowest recorded rate was Siirt at 0.2 percent, followed by Hakkâri, Kilis, Van, and Bitlis.

While the highest rate among men was seen in Istanbul at 4.7 percent, Istanbul also ranked first among women at 3.4 percent. The brain drain rate was calculated as 4.4 percent for foundation university graduates and 1.9 percent for public university graduates. Among foundation graduates, the highest rate was observed among full scholarship recipients at 8.6 percent.

Among educational fields, information and communication technologies ranked first with 7 percent, while molecular biology and genetics had the highest rate among undergraduate programs with 13.1 percent. Germany was the most preferred destination country for higher education graduates, followed by the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Canada.