ISTANBUL, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- The number of registered Syrian refugees in Turkey surpassed 3.7 million, an official data updated in September revealed on Tuesday.

The General Directorate of Migration Management reported that 1.76 million of the Syrian refugee population in the country, or 47 percent of them, are children aged below 18.

Turkey's most crowded city Istanbul has the highest number of Syrians at nearly 533,000, followed by the southeastern provinces of Gaziantep and Hatay, having 458,000 and 437,000 refugees respectively.

Syrian refugees, fleeing from the civil war in their country, were first hosted in several camps established near the Syrian border in southeastern Turkey, but they later scattered across the country.

The data showed that 98.6 percent of them now live in cities.

In 2020, their number was recorded as 3.6 million, up from 2.8 million in 2016.

The Interior Ministry earlier announced that 462,026 Syrians have returned to their hometowns since 2016.

Turkey, a key transit point for asylum seekers on their way to Europe, is home to over 4 million refugees, including Syrians, Afghans, Iraqis, Iranians, and many from several African countries. Enditem

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