The number of Italian citizens who have chosen to live abroad is higher than the number of immigrants who reside in Italy, new research shows. The COVID-19 pandemic, legal barriers and other obstacles have impeded the growth of Italy's immigrant population, the Catholic foundation has said.
The number of Italians who have chosen to live abroad is higher than the number of immigrants who are regularly residing in Italy, Migrantes Foundation announced on Monday (July 4).
Though Italy's population is shrinking, the foreign population is not growing either, the Catholic foundation added.
"We used to say that Italy had the same number of immigrants living in the country as Italian emigrants abroad – but this is not true anymore, according to the most recent data," Delfina Licata, a sociologist and researcher at the Migrantes Foundation, declared.
"The number of Italians who have chosen to reside abroad is higher than that of immigrants regularly residing in the peninsula. The only Italians growing today are the ones putting roots abroad," Licata said at a congress organized by the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI) and by social security and pensions agency INPS.
Read more: Shortfall of 100,000 migrant seasonal farmworkers in Italy
Italy's population declining
"Italy is a state in which the local population is shrinking and the immigrant population – due to the economic crisis, the pandemic, territorial disparity and the impossibility of entering legally – is not growing anymore," the sociologist stressed.
Meanwhile, a debate is continuing in Italy over introducing citizenship reforms that would allow foreign minors who were born in Italy or who arrived in the country under the age of 12 to acquire Italian citizenship – provided they legally have been residing in the country without interruptions and regularly attended school for at least five years.
Emigration stalls during pandemic
According to data released during the congress, as of January 1, 2021, the community of Italians living abroad is made up of 5,652,080 people, or 9.5% of the over 59.2 million Italians residing in Italy. Italy has registered a 3% increase of citizens who have chosen to reside abroad over the past year.
The number of Italians moving abroad declined, however, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The decrease did not concern Italian citizens born abroad but rather the departure of Italian citizens who left the country between January and December 2020, Migrantes said. Overall, 109,528 Italians moved abroad during that period, 21,408 less compared to the previous year.