Page 15 - IO1-Report

KA201 - Strategic Partnerships for School Education
The Universal Language of Mathematics (2018-1-TR01-KA201-059704)

2. Italy: situation and good practices

2.1. Overview of flight and migration in Italy

Looking at migration in the Italian Republic, founded in 1946, the country has started its transition
into a migration destination after the year 1974. Before that time, emigration has been more at the
center of political debates. Therefore, Italy has a long tradition of integrating foreigners, people with
migration background and asylum seekers into the Italian society. In the year 2013 the number of
foreign citizens increased by 3 per cent (110,000 people). Data from the years 2012 show that 8.1 per
cent (4,900,000) of the population of Italy consisted of foreigners (ISTAT 2012). In the total amount of
foreign population, the most represented communities were Moroccan, Albanian, Chinese, Ukrainian
and Philippine. The minors have been still amounting to 23.9 per cent of all foreigners. All these people
have entered Italy with different types of visas (e.g. work visa, family visa or visa for humanitarian
reasons), sometimes also without entry permit. Many of them have had paid jobs, even informally in
the shadow economy, especially in agriculture or construction. (Bertelsmann 2016)
In 2014 the number of foreigners in Italy has exceeded 5 million which amounted to 8,2 per cent of the
total population. The natural movement of the population (born minus dead) showed a negative
dynamic peak (-100,000) for the first time since the World War I. This happened mainly due to a
significant decrease in birth (-12,000), both amongst native and foreign population (2.638 less foreign
children in comparison to 2013). The number of 3,931,133 people officially registered as foreign
residents in 2015 almost has not changed compared to 2014. (ISTAT 2018) The most represented
countries have remained the same – Morocco (510,450), Albania (482,959), China (333,986), Ukraine
(240,141) and India (169,394). For the first time since the early 1990s the female share of foreigners
has decreased (Italian government issued 6,742 residence permits less than in 2015), because there
have been more men among the more recent asylum seekers and refugees that have arrived in Italy
(see below).
In 2017, new inflows of non-EU foreigners have comprised 262,770 persons (+16 percent new permits
over the previous year). Permits issued for family purposes have been 43.2 percent, while new permits
issued for work only have accounted for 4.6 percent. In 2018, however, non-EU foreigners holding a
residence permit in Italy have comprised 3,714,934 persons. Compared to the figures of 4,900,000
foreigners mentioned at the beginning of this subchapter, this indicates a slight decline. Citizens from
Morocco (443,147), Albania (430,340), China (309,110), Ukraine (235,245) and Philippines (161,609)
have accounted for a significant share. (ISTAT 2018).
In terms of flight, Italy lies on the so-called Mediterranean route. In the years from 2015, inflows for
asylum and other humanitarian reasons (101 thousand people) have grown by nearly 30 percent. The
Libyan coast in particular has remained the central starting point for the dangerous crossings, but boats
with migrants have been also crossing to Italy from Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and Turkey and have arrived
mainly in Lampedusa and Sicily (Bertelsmann 2016) The central Mediterranean route is dangerous:
according to UNHCR estimates, 3,771 people lost their lives in 2015. While in 2015 there were many
war refugees from Syria, the largest number of migrants now arriving in Italy come from West and East
Africa: Nigeria (19%), Eritrea (13%), Gambia, the Ivory Coast and Sudan (7% each), Guinea (6%) and
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