Over the course of the year there was an increase in permits issued for work purposes and a drop in ones for family reunification and study. Last year saw an increase in work permits - but not for women -- and asylum requests for non-EU nationals, according to a report by the Italian national Statistics Institute ISTAT.

The report, entitled Cittadini non Comunitari in Italia -- Anno 2024 ("Non-EU Citizens in Italy, 2024), was published on October 28.

ISTAT reports that there were over 3.8 million non-EU citizens with a regular stay permit in Italy as of December 31, 2024. A total of 290,119 stay permits were issued in 2024: a 12.3 percent drop compared with the previous year.

A clear drop compared with 2023 was seen in statistics regarding arrivals from Ukraine (-54.2 percent), while permits for Tunisians (+30.7 percent) and Peruvians (+25.7 percent) rose.

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Stay permits for family reunification and study dropped

While there was a 3.8 percent increase in work permits compared with 2023, there was instead a sharp drop -- following a three-year record high -- in permits issued for family reunification for non-EU nationals: -18.8 percent.

Family reunification nonetheless remains the largest reason for stay permits, accounting for 36.1 percent of them. A 44.9 percent drop was seen for family members of Ukrainian nationals and a 37.8 percent one for Indians.

Decreases of over 28 percent were seen also for nationals of Albania and Bangladesh compared with the previous year. Tunisians, Chinese, and Egyptians instead saw a rise in the number of arrivals for family reunification (11.6 percent, 11.5 percent, and 5.7 percent respectively).

The drop in permits for family reunification was almost the same for men (-18.4 percent) and women (-19 percent).

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Over 217,000 foreign nationals became Italians in 2024

Last year, a total of 151,120 people filed asylum requests in Italy, 20,555 more than in 2023. In the same period, the territorial commissions for international protection examined 78,565 requests, rejecting 64.1 percent.

More non-EU nationals acquired Italian citizenship in 2024, a slight rise compared with the previous year. There was a 7.3 percent rise in minors whose parents were from outside the EU who became Italian citizens, almost one third of whom live in Italy's northern region of Lombardy.

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Who are the 'new Italians'?

The Italian population of non-EU origin are markedly younger than those who were born in Italy with an average age of 39, almost nine years younger than their Italy-born counterparts.

At the territorial level, over half of Italian nationals of non-EU origin live in three regions in northern Italy: Lombardy (26.2 percent), Emilia-Romagna (12.5 percent), and Veneto (12.1 percent). The southern regions, instead, have very low levels, such as Sicily with only 2.8 percent, and Campania 2.3 percent.

At the provincial level -- apart from the large metropolitan centers of Milan, Rome, and Turin -- there is also the city of Brescia among the top ten, with over 81,000 Italians of non-EU origin, as well as Bergamo, Treviso, and Vicenza, with around 50,000 each.

The 'new Italians' are mostly of Albanian and Moroccan origins: in 2024, almost 32,000 Albanians became Italian and 28,000 Moroccans did. These two communities are historically the most deeply rooted in Italy and pass on Italian citizenship mostly to their children and through residency (84 percent).

Following were nationals born in Argentina, India, and Brazil, but with significantly lower levels of converting to citizenship.

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