Balçova

Balçova is a municipality and district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 16 km², and its population is 80,721 (2022). It covers the western part of the Greater Metropolitan Area of İzmir. Balçova is a fully urbanized at the rate of 100 percent. Balçova district area follows the southern coastline of the inner Gulf of İzmir, on the road to Çeşme and is at a distance of 8 km (5 mi) to the west from the traditional center of İzmir (Konak), which it borders on the east. Balçova district further neighbors the district area Narlıdere to the south and the west, both of its neighbors being among İzmir's metropolitan districts. Balçova district's overall levels of education are among the highest in Turkey, the literacy rate reaching 98 per cent, while the calculations for average yearly income per inhabitant situate it slightly below the national average, at 4.327 US Dollars, for which its open approach to outside immigration may have played a role. The overall appearance of Balçova leaves the impression of a locality where people are generally educated and who subsist on mid-revenues. The economy is largely based on commerce and tourism, its three shopping malls constituting the backbone for the first range of activities, and its thermal baths for the second. New housing projects putting Balçova's advantageous location to benefit and generally aimed at mid- to higher- income residents started to be built in recent years and as such, Balçova became in recent years one of İzmir's metropolitan districts where the economy grew the fastest. Balçova is home to İzmir University of Economics.