Immigration to Italy


As of 1 January 2017, there were 5,047,028 foreign nationals resident in Italy. This amounted to 8.2% of the country's population and represented an increase of 92,352 over the previous year. These figures include children born in Italy to foreign nationals, but exclude foreign nationals who have subsequently acquired Italian nationality; this applied to 129,887 people in 2014. Around 6,200,000 people residing in Italy have an immigration background. They also exclude illegal immigrants whose numbers are difficult to determine. In May 2020, The Times estimated them to number 600,000. The distribution of foreign born population is largely uneven in Italy: 59.5% of immigrants live in the northern part of the country, 25.4% in the central one, while only 15.1% live in the southern regions. The children born in Italy to foreign mothers were 102,000 in 2012, 99,000 in 2013 and 97,000 in 2014.
Since the expansion of the European Union, the most recent wave of migration has been from surrounding European states, particularly Eastern Europe, and increasingly Asia, replacing North Africa as the major immigration area. There are 1,131,839 ethnic-Romanians living on Italian soil, making them the largest minority group in the country. As of 2013, the foreign born population origin was subdivided as follows: Africa, Asia, America, and Oceania.

Statistics

YearPopulation
20021,341,209
20031,464,663
20041,854,748
20052,210,478
20062,419,483
20072,592,950
20083,023,317
20093,402,435
20103,648,128
20113,879,224
20124,052,081
20134,387,721
20144,922,085
20155,014,437
20165,026,153
20175,047,028
20185,144,440
20195,255,503

Country200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019Regions with significant populations-
625,278 796,477 887,763 823,100 834,465 933,354 1,081,400 1,131,839 1,151,395 1,168,552 1,190,091 1,207,919Lazio
401,949 441,396 466,684 451,437 450,908 464,962 495,709 490,483 467,687 448,407 440,465 440,854Lombardy
365,908 403,592 431,529 407,097 408,667 426,791 454,773 449,058 437,485 420,651 416,531 432,458Lombardy
156.519 170,265 188,352 194,510 197,064 223,367 256,846 265,820 271,330 281,972 290,681305,089Lombardy, Lazio
132,718 153,998 174,129 178,534 180,121 191,725 219,050 226,060 230,728 234,354 237,047240,428Lombardy
103,678 82,066 129,188 139,835 162,655 168,238 165,900 166,459 167,859169,137Lombardy, Lazio
105,863 116,797 118,409 128,903 142,453 147,815 150,456 151,430 151,791161,101Lazio, Lombardy
73,965 80,639 81,683 92,695 111,223 115,301 118,790 122,428 131,967147,872Lazio
82,064 65,985 66,932 76,691 96,008 103,713 109,871 112,765 119,513136,113Lombardy
64,859 69,877 71,031 80,658 90,615 96,207 101,784 108,204 114,198127,101Lombardy
105,600 130,619 132,175 139,734 149,434 147,388 142,266 135,661 131,814124,545Lombardy, Lazio, Veneto
48,220 56,476 66,833 71,158 77,264 88,533 106,069117,809Lombardy
75,343 71,203 71,573 79,530 95,007 100,558 102,316 104,908 107,967114,910Lombardy
72,618 72,458 73,702 80,325 90,863 94,030 98,176 101,207 105,937111,380Lombardy
123,584129,01582,99788,29197,31796,01295,64594,06493,79598,321Lombardy
87,74793,90593,84199,173109,851109,66898,17699,11097,37997,738Lombardy
105,60884,61984,74988,83997,56698,69497,98697,06295,72791,681Lazio

53,875n.a.95,83490,50696,42192,37888,07683,57982,10577,540Lombardy
85,94080,64580,33382,79191,86191,25987,42783,12080,37777,408Lombardy
42,00047,87254,93256,57658,00158,62059,25459,806Lazio
92,84773,40773,97276,60878,42477,70373,51267,96965,34758,057Lazio
37,56739,15743,20242,58743,78345,41048,02254,556Lombardy
44,36448,57551,60250,41448,63748,13849,94051,619Lombardy
28,60430,94834,48335,21135,79136,36137,38439,484Lombardy
34,93635,57638,13636,74936,66136,66036,80636,980Lombardy
23,98525,01629,07827,69628,63429,28129,99131,400Lombardy, Lazio
22,83923,74426,37725,86426,63427,20828,16831,183Tuscany
20,87823,56325,95325,36225,05626,15930,27131,155Lombardy
23,02025,40528,62328,80428,20228,00228,45130,743Lazio
15,12917,02120,68221,28622,59323,82824,87027,433Lazio
16,35017,53819,31619,99920,66220,98621,41823,476Lombardy
28,01528,99629,83129,44227,19925,79125,03423,019Umbria
20,72521,80123,09522,67921,76520,43719,82319,466Lombardy
Rest of Sub-Saharan Africa133,272151,841158,142--
Rest of Europe117,416116,645119,361--
Rest of Americas92,92797,707--
Rest of North Africa and Western/Central Asia81,14786,019--
Rest of East and South-East Asia22,89519,877--
Rest of South Asia1,5161,630--
Europe2,601,3132,588,451 2,600,748 --
North Africa and Western/Central Asia741,090729,064 735,681 --
South Asia474,736488,486 507,553 --
East and South-East Asia459,572471,326 478,417 --
Sub-Saharan Africa369,567397,309 444,058 --
Americas376,556369,555 373,354 --
Oceania2,1042,122 2,157--

Prison population

According to the ISPI, the Italian prison population in 2018 counted and of those 34% were foreigners, with the largest groups coming from Morocco, Albania, Romania, Tunisia and Nigeria.

Public opinion

According to poll published by Corriere della Sera in 2019, one of two respondents approved closing Italy's ports to further boat migrants arriving via the Mediterranean, while 19% welcomed further boat migrants.
In 2018, a poll by Pew Research found that a majority wanted fewer immigrants to be allowed into the country, 18% wanted to keep the current level and 5% wanted to increase immigration.
A 2019 poll by Yougov showed that 53% thought authorities should not accept more refugees from conflict areas, 25% were in favour of more refugees and 19% were undecided.

2000s Mediterranean Sea crossings crisis

Due to the peninsula geographical position and close proximity to the North Africa coast, the crossing of the Mediterranean Sea has historically been the most used route for undocumented migrants. This route has become gradually more prominent as people flows through other routes to the EU gradually faded and political turmoil in Libya caused a general weakening of borders and coastal control, opening opportunities to people smuggling organisations.
The principal destination for sea crossings boats and rafts are the southernmost Italian territories, the Pelagie Islands. These islands are 113 km from Tunisia, 167 from Libya and 207 from Sicily.
The close distance between these islands and the African mainland has caused people smuggling organisations to employ boats and rafts otherwise hardly seaworthy, generally vastly filled above their capacity. Official reports list boats filled up to 2 or 3 times nominal capacity, including the use of rubber dinghies. This has led to several accidents at sea, as in 2007, the 2009, the 2011, the 2013, 2015. These accidents have become harder to document between 2014 and 2017, as people smuggling organisations changed their tactics: instead of aiming for a full crossing of the sea towards Lampedusa, their boats aimed just to exit Libyan territorial waters and then trigger rescue operation from passing mercantile vessels, seek and rescue organisations, Italian and Maltese coastguards and militaries. As per the United Nations Convention of the Sea, of which Italy is a subscriber, people rescued at sea have to be transported to the closest safe harbor: as Libya continues to be in political turmoil this means they are transported to Italy.
Once in Italy, the EU Dublin Regulation requires migrants to apply for legal residence, protection or asylum permits in the first EU country they cross into, effectively barring them from legally crossing internal EU borders until their case has been processed and positively concluded. As the vast majority of migrant people landing in Italy targets destinations in Central and Northern European States, there is a tendency to avoid filing permits applications in Italy and rather try a northwards land journey.
As a reaction to the gradual increase in migration flows through the Mediterranean Sea, Italian governments stepped up cooperation with Tunisian and Libyan authorities to halt activities of people smuggling organisation on land, as well as to allow boats rescued from the Italian Military in international waters to be towed back to the port where they left from. This policy, enacted in 2004 and 2005, sparked controversies related in particular to the compatibility with Italian and EU laws, as numerous reports documented acts of violence from Libyan authorities on migrant people. The policy was openly criticised by the EU Parliament.
In 2008, Berlusconi’s government in Italy and Gaddafi’s government in Libya signed a treaty including cooperation between the two countries in stopping unlawful migration from Libya to Italy; this led to a policy of forcibly returning to Libya boat migrants intercepted by the Italian coast guard at sea. The cooperation collapsed following the outbreak of the Libyan civil war in 2011. In 2012 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Italy had violated the European Convention on Human Rights by returning migrants to Libya, as it exposed the migrants to the risk of being subjected to ill-treatment in Libya and violated the prohibition of collective expulsions., thus effectively ending the policy.
In 2009, as the flow of migrants picked up again, the overcrowded conditions at the Pelagie Islands' temporary immigrant reception centre came under criticism by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The unit, which was originally built for a maximum capacity of 850 people, was reported to be housing nearly 2,000 boat people. A significant number of people were sleeping outdoors under plastic sheeting. A fire started as an inmate riot destroyed a large portion of the holding facility on 19 February 2009.
In 2011, as Arab Spring rebellions in Tunisia and Libya disrupted government control over borders and coasts, migrant flows increased again. By May 2011, more than 35,000 immigrants had arrived on the island of Lampedusa from Tunisia and Libya. By the end of August, 48,000 had arrived.
As migration and asylum policies are exclusive responsibilities of each member State, the increased migration pressure at the EU Southern border sparked tensions between EU States on how to differentiate between people migrating due to economic reasons, which in principle are regarded as unlawful immigrants and thus are forced to leave or deported, and people fleeing violence or persecution for religious, sexual orientation, political reasons, who can be granted asylum rights. As the Libyan authoritarian governments struggled to keep control of the country, it allowed an increase in northbound migrant flows as a tactic to pressure Italy and the EU not to militarily intervene in the country, as Gaddafi feared his regime would be overthrown.

Controversies regarding NGOs

After 2015, as an increased use of unseaworthy vessels by people smuggling organisations caused a marked increase in accidents at sea involving loss of lives, several European NGOs have started seek and rescue operations in close coordination with Italian Navy and coast guard units. These operations often happen close to Libyan territorial waters at the same time in order not to unlawfully enter Libyan jurisdictions and yet ensure migrants' safety. As per UNCLOS, rescued people are brought to the closer safe harbor, which is in most cases on Italian shore. This effectively means NGOs vessels are covering most of the distance between Libyan and Italian coast.
Right-wing Italian newspapers and activists picked on that to make various claims, among which that NGOs active in migrants' assistance and rescue at sea would reap financial profits from their collaboration with the Italian authorities, or that some NGOs are part of unlawful people smuggling operations in coordination with operatives on Libyan coast, and funded by international criminal groups and financial institutions interested in developing political turmoil in Italy.
The Italian Parliament investigated these claims and has found them to be unsubstantiated, with no further actions. Regardless of this, right-wing newspapers have continued campaigning against Italian and foreign NGOs.
In August 2017 the ship "Iuventa" operated by the German NGO "Jugend Rettet" was impounded on the island of Lampedusa on the order of an Italian prosecutor on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration. Jugend Rettet is one of the six out of nine NGOs which refused to sign a new code of conduct by the Italian government covering migrant rescues in the Mediterranean. The prosecutor alleged that there were "contacts, meetings and understandings" between the boat's crew and the smugglers. No crew members from the "Iuventa" had been charged and the prosecutor admitted that their motive was likely humanitarian.

Italian naval mission to Libyan waters

On 2 August 2017 Italy's parliament authorized a limited naval mission to Libyan waters aimed at supporting the country's coastguard in the fight against illegal migration. Italy sent two patrol boats at the request of the UN-backed government in Tripoli and insisted it had no intention of violating Libyan sovereignty. However, General Khalifa Haftar, who controls most of eastern Libya, threatened to use his own forces to repel the Italians.