Ranking of the best areas to live in Istanbul

A study for determining best neighborhoods in Istanbul and other Cities of Turkey

Socio-Economic Development Studies (SEGE) are conducted to determine the ranking and scoring of all regions, cities and provinces of Turkey, in other words, ranking the worst and best areas to live in Istanbul with family and other Turkish cities. The study of the ranking of the social and economic development of the regions of Turkey for 2022 is considered one of the reference studies in the field of regional development.

These studies are collected and published by the General Department of the Ministry of Industry and Technology. Observance of social economic development is one of the important criteria in achieving the goal of balanced development, which aims to increase the quality of life and access to all classes. Therefore, it allows those who want to live in Istanbul to know the best neighborhoods in Istanbul.

According to the scores of the indicators, the districts are categorized into 6 development levels. In this article, only the top areas in the first category will be mentioned so that our dear compatriots have more information about the ranking of Istanbul areas when buying property.

Here we refer to 8 of the most important variables that have the greatest impact on scoring regions:

• Demographic variables
• Financial variables
• Employment and social security variables
• Education variables
• Health variables
• Competitiveness variables
• Innovation variables
• Quality of life variables

Demographic variables

Since the demographic variables show the structure and characteristics of the population, they indirectly contain information about the social, cultural and economic life in each neighborhood and region. The potential of labor and residents’ access to economic and social opportunities in the place of residence is one of the important institutions of production. For these reasons, demographic variables are important variables that determine and reflect the level of development of regions. In this framework, seven demographic variables were considered, and these variables are listed in Table 1.

Table 1 – Demographic variables

Financial variables

In the studies of SEGE-2022 regions, five variables have been used under the title of financial variables. These variables include residents’ access to financial services, their financial capacity, and the potential of government centers in areas to provide services, where the best neighborhoods in Istanbul have higher scores. In this context, the five financial variables included in the SEGE-2022 regional study are listed in the following table:

Table 2 – Financial variables

Employment and social security variables

The variables of employment and social security are important in terms of showing the power of the labor force and the economic structure of the regions, access to health services and social welfare. Therefore, variables related to employment and social security have been used in this research. Highest scores means top areas to live in Istanbul and other Turkish cities.

Table 3 – Employment and social security variables

Education variables

Socio-economic development has a lot to do with having educated and qualified human resources. Therefore, education is a necessity for economic development. A higher level of education means a better job, cultural richness, and a higher social status from a social point of view, and it has a great impact on the ranking of Istanbul and other cities. Six education variables were used in the SEGE2022 study of the region and these variables are given in Table 4.

Table 4 – Education variables

Health variables

Health variables are important because the level of access to health services directly affects people’s willingness to settle, live and work in the respective area. The health variables used in this study measure the health service capacity of the regions and health service outcomes. As a result, the best neighborhoods in Istanbul and other cities have a higher score in terms of health variables. Six health variables were used in the SEGE-2022 regional study and these variables are given in Table 5.

Table 5 – Health variables

Competitiveness variables

Competitiveness variables reflect the potential and economic dynamism of regions, especially in the fields of entrepreneurship, industry, tourism and agriculture. In this framework, eight competitiveness variables are used, and these variables are listed in Table 6.

Table 6 – competitiveness variables

Innovation variables

Socio-economic development is closely related to the innovation capacity and performance of a region. In this framework, knowledge production and innovation, transformation of existing knowledge into commercial value and production with high added value are linked with socio-economic development. Eight variables in this dimension are listed in Table 7.

Table 7 – Innovation variables

Quality of life variables

Eight different variables under the title of “quality of life variables” were used in the study of the SEGE-2022 region. These variables reflect people’s access to social and cultural opportunities and physical infrastructure facilities that increase their quality of life and well-being, which is of vital importance for socio-economic development. The quality of life variables used are presented in Table 8.

Table 8 – Quality of life variables

The developed areas of the first row

Among the 973 regions on the map, only 67 of them are first-level developed regions. Most of these areas are located in the most developed provinces of Turkey, including Istanbul. When the distribution of the developed areas of the first degree is examined based on the geographical areas. It can be seen that 36 regions of it are around the Sea of Marmara, 13 regions are on the coast of the Aegean Sea, 9 regions are in the center of Turkey i.e. Anatolia region, 5 regions are in the southern coast of Turkey i.e. the Mediterranean coast, 2 regions are in the Black Sea coast. And there is only one region in eastern Turkey.

Map: Map of the socio-economic development levels of the districts

While 30% of Turkey’s population lives in these areas, 49% of the number of bank branches in Turkey are located in these areas (first level), 56% of bank card payments are made in these areas.

The best and luxury neighborhoods in Istanbul to buy a house

The main purpose of writing this article by the Land Invester Real Estate Company is to provide useful information about the socio-economic level of Istanbul’s regions and, as a result, identify the best neighborhoods in Istanbul to buy a house. In the ranking table of the top areas to live in Istanbul, Şişli, Beşiktaş and Kadıköy districts have the first to third titles respectively.

Istanbul has 39 regions, and based on this research, 29 regions have achieved the maximum number of points to enter the first level regions group.

Conclusion

Along with the high scores in the economic indicators, it can be seen that the basic infrastructure in these areas has been completed to a significant extent and in this framework, the variables of education, health and quality of life have a higher value. Compared to other regions in terms of educational and health dimensions, the first level of development has the highest values compared to other levels in all variables. Also, the sectors that rank first in all variables in terms of education and health are at the first level of development.