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Immigration to Italy

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Foreign residents as a percentage of the total population, 2011
The footballer Mario Balotelli, Italian from Ghanaian descent

Immigration to Italy is a phenomenon that became relevant only at the end of the 1970's, as the country was traditionally a source of migrants to other countries (it's estimated that between 1876 and 1976, some 24 millions Italians emigrated abroad)[1].

At the start of 2011 there were 4,570,317 foreign nationals resident in Italy and registered with the authorities.[2] This amounted to 7.5% of the country’s population and represented an increase of 257,176.[2] (not including 78,082 births from immigrant parents) a sharp drop from the 388,000 increase the year previous.[3] These figures include more than half a million children born in Italy to foreign nationals—second generation immigrants are becoming an important element in the demographic picture—but exclude foreign nationals who have subsequently acquired Italian nationality; this applied to 65,938 people in 2010.[2] They also exclude illegal immigrants, the so-called clandestini whose numbers are difficult to determine. In May 2008 The Boston Globe quoted an estimate of 670,000 for this group.[4]

Since the expansion of the European Union, the most recent wave of migration has been from surrounding European nations, particularly Eastern Europe, and increasingly Asia,[5] replacing North Africa as the major immigration area. Some 997,000 Romanians,[6] around 10 percent of them being Romanis,[7] are officially registered as living in Italy, replacing Albanians and Moroccans as the largest ethnic minority group.

As of 2011, the foreign born population origin of Italy was subdivided as follows: Europe (53.4%), Asia (16.8%), North Africa (14.8%) the Americas (8.1%), sub-Saharan Africa (6.7%) and other lands (such as Oceania) (0.2%). The distribution of foreign born population is largely uneven in Italy: 86.45% of immigrants live in the northern and central parts of the country (the most economically developed areas), while only 13.55% live in the southern half of the peninsula.

According to Eurostat, in 2010 there were 4.8 million foreign-born residents in Italy, corresponding to 8.0% of the total population. Of these, 3.2 million (5.3%) were born outside the EU and 1.6 million (2.6%) were born in another EU Member State.[8]

Statistics

Total legal immigrant population, as of 1 January. Source: demo.istat.it.

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
1,549,373 1,990,159 2,402,157 2,670,514 2,938,922 3,432,651 3,891,295 4,235,059 4,570,317

See also

References

  1. ^ Rielaborazione dati Istat in Gianfausto Rosoli, Un secolo di emigrazione italiana 1876-1976, Roma, Cser, 1978
  2. ^ a b c "Statistiche demografiche ISTAT". {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  3. ^ "Italy wakes up to the realities of immigration". The Guardian. 21 February 2010.
  4. ^ Elisabeth Rosenthal, "Italy cracks down on illegal immigration". The Boston Globe. 16 May 2008.
  5. ^ "Milan police in Chinatown clash". BBC News. 13 April 2007.
  6. ^ ISTAT - Istituto Nazionale di Statistica Indicatori demografici (1° gennaio 2011)
  7. ^ "EUROPE: Home to Roma, And No Place for Them". IPS ipsnews.net.
  8. ^ 6.5% of the EU population are foreigners and 9.4% are born abroad, Eurostat, Katya VASILEVA, 34/2011.
  9. ^ a b Statistiche demografiche ISTAT
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