TÜRKİYE’S INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION PROFILE, 1960-2000: A BILATERAL STOCK ANALYSIS OF OUTWARD AND INWARD MIGRATION

Creative Commons License

Benli M., Taş H.

15. ULUSLARARASI NEW YORK SOSYAL, BEŞERİ, İDARİ VE EĞİTİM BİLİMLERİNDE AKADEMİK ÇALIŞMALAR KONGRESİ, New York, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri, 3 - 05 Mayıs 2026, cilt.1, ss.1, (Tam Metin Bildiri)

  • Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Tam Metin Bildiri
  • Cilt numarası: 1
  • Basıldığı Şehir: New York
  • Basıldığı Ülke: Amerika Birleşik Devletleri
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1
  • Bilecik Şeyh Edebali Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

ABSTRACT

This study examines the long-run evolution of Türkiye’s international migration profile over the period 1960-2000 using bilateral migrant stock data from the Global Bilateral Migration Database. By reorganising the global bilateral matrix into Türkiye-centred outward and inward migration panels, the study analyses the scale, direction, concentration, diversification, and gender composition of Türkiye’s migrant stocks. The empirical framework is descriptive and comparative, and relies on stock-based indicators including total outward and inward migrant stocks, country shares, the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI), concentration ratios, non-zero corridor counts, and gender composition measures. The findings reveal a clear structural transformation in Türkiye’s migration profile over the second half of the twentieth century. Outward migrant stock increased sharply, especially after 1970, and exceeded inward migrant stock from 1980 onward. At the same time, outward migration became highly concentrated in a limited number of destination countries, above all Germany, indicating a strongly centralised corridor structure shaped by labour migration and its long-run demographic consolidation. Inward migrant stock, by contrast, followed a more moderate trajectory and remained more strongly rooted in regional source countries, particularly Bulgaria and other Balkan origins, while gradually diversifying across a broader set of countries. The results also show that both outward and inward migration became more gender-balanced over time, although inward migration displayed a more stable demographic balance throughout the period. Overall, the study shows that Türkiye’s migration profile during 1960–2000 cannot be reduced to a simple sending-country narrative. Instead, the evidence points to the coexistence of two distinct but interconnected structures: a highly concentrated outward migration system centred on Western Europe and a more regionally anchored but gradually broadening inward migration system. In this way, the study provides a historically grounded empirical account of Türkiye’s migration structure prior to the major migration governance reforms of the 2000s.

Keywords: Innternational migration; bilateral migrant stocks; outward migration; inward migration; migration concentrationABSTRACT

This study examines the long-run evolution of Türkiye’s international migration profile over the period 1960-2000 using bilateral migrant stock data from the Global Bilateral Migration Database. By reorganising the global bilateral matrix into Türkiye-centred outward and inward migration panels, the study analyses the scale, direction, concentration, diversification, and gender composition of Türkiye’s migrant stocks. The empirical framework is descriptive and comparative, and relies on stock-based indicators including total outward and inward migrant stocks, country shares, the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI), concentration ratios, non-zero corridor counts, and gender composition measures. The findings reveal a clear structural transformation in Türkiye’s migration profile over the second half of the twentieth century. Outward migrant stock increased sharply, especially after 1970, and exceeded inward migrant stock from 1980 onward. At the same time, outward migration became highly concentrated in a limited number of destination countries, above all Germany, indicating a strongly centralised corridor structure shaped by labour migration and its long-run demographic consolidation. Inward migrant stock, by contrast, followed a more moderate trajectory and remained more strongly rooted in regional source countries, particularly Bulgaria and other Balkan origins, while gradually diversifying across a broader set of countries. The results also show that both outward and inward migration became more gender-balanced over time, although inward migration displayed a more stable demographic balance throughout the period. Overall, the study shows that Türkiye’s migration profile during 1960–2000 cannot be reduced to a simple sending-country narrative. Instead, the evidence points to the coexistence of two distinct but interconnected structures: a highly concentrated outward migration system centred on Western Europe and a more regionally anchored but gradually broadening inward migration system. In this way, the study provides a historically grounded empirical account of Türkiye’s migration structure prior to the major migration governance reforms of the 2000s.

Keywords: Innternational migration; bilateral migrant stocks; outward migration; inward migration; migration concentration