Growth of International Population in Italy by 2023

As of early 2023, over five million foreign citizens—both from EU and non-EU nations—resided in Italy, according to data from Noi Italia, a rise of 111,000 from 2022.

8.7% of Italy’s population was foreign-born at the beginning of the previous year. Over 449,000 non-EU nationals had residency permits in Italy in 2022, an 86 percent increase over 2021.

The Ukrainian Refugee Crisis’s Effects

The influx of foreign residents was mostly caused by the refugee situation in Ukraine. As a result of 45.1% of new arrivals in 2022 requesting protection and asylum, the number of refugees increased from approximately 31,000 to over 200,000. In addition, compared to 2021, the number of submissions for job and family reunification increased by 15.0% and 28.1 percent, respectively.

Foreigners Prefer Northern and Central Italy

The Central and Northern areas of Italy are preferred by the majority of foreign inhabitants. 83.4 percent of foreign residents were in these places as of January 1, 2023. In particular, regions like Lombardy, Lazio, Emilia-Romagna, and Veneto issued or renewed over 85% of residence permits for non-EU citizens.

Jobs for Foreign Nationals

Even with a modest improvement in 2022, the employment rate for foreign residents aged 20 to 64 was still lower than that of Italian citizens, who had an employment rate of 66.4 percent. In the same time frame, foreigners’ unemployment rate dropped considerably but stayed higher than Italians’, at 11.3 percent vs 7.2 percent.

Statistics on Immigration

Data from Eurostat for 2022 shows that Italy had seven immigrants for every 1,000 residents, or 411,000 out of 58.997 million people. Of these, 287,000 were foreign nationals, 49,400 were migrants from other EU members, and 74,500 were natives of Italy.