Three million Syrian refugees in Turkey

A total of 2,957,454 Syrians are currently registered in Turkey, media reports said.

Local daily Hurriyet, citing a tweet from the interior ministry's directorate general of migration management on Thursday, reported that he official figures included protection applications, irregular migrants and foreigners given residence permits.

There were more Syrian men (1,580,866) than women (1,367,588) registered. The majority of males was aged 19 and 24 and the biggest group of females was aged between five and nine, the directorate said.

Around 10 per cent of Syrian refugees were in refugee camps, according to official data cited last month by state news agency Anadolu. Most are living in urban areas and have the right to work.

Turkey was spending $25 billion on aid for Syrian refugees, Anadolu quoted interior minister Suleyman Soylu as saying on February 15.

After Lebanon, Turkey is the country hosting the most Syrian refugees.

Lebanon is sheltering over a million Syrians, Jordan 657,000, Iraq more than 230,000 and Egypt over 117,000 according to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR).