Six million foreigners in Italy, irregular migrants down

Italy’s foreign population stood at just over 6 million at the start of 2022, marking a rise of 88,000 over the previous year according to the 28th annual report on migration presented by the ISMU Foundation in Milan on Wednesday.

Irregular immigrants accounted for 8.4% of the total foreign population, down from 519,000 at the start of 2021 to 506,000 last year. The drop is due to progress made in the amnesty for undeclared foreign workers launched by Italy in 2020, the ISMU report said.

Some 242,000 permits of stay were issued in 2021 according to ISMU estimates, more than twice the number issued in 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic stemmed the number of arrivals.

Roughly 6 in 10 foreigners came from outside the European Union, with the largest population groups as of 1 January 2022 represented by Moroccans (408,000), Albanians (397,000), Chinese (291,000) and Ukrainians (230,000).

   Sea arrivals to Italy in 2022 rose by 55.8% to 105,129 over the previous year, with 20,542 arrivals coming from Egypt, 18,148 from Tunisia and 14,982 from Bangladesh.

Via ANSA