Non-EU foreigners holding a residence permit in Italy on 1st January 2015 are 3,929,916. From 2014 to 2015 there has been an increase of approximately 55 thousand units. The most represented citizenships are: Morocco (518,357), Albania (498,419), China (332,189), Ukraine (236,682) and Philippines (169,046).
In 2014 the share of non-EU children in Italy amount to 24% of the total foreign population holding a residence permit.
The share of long-term permits is continuously growing. While in 2014 they were 2,179,607, in 2015 they are 2,248,747 and represent the largest part of the regular presence (57.2%).
The new inflows of non-EU foreigners are still declining: in 2014 almost 248,000 new permits were issued, nearly 3% less than the previous year. The decrease in the new permits has affected women (-14%) while the male inflows increase (7.5%). In the same period the new permits issued for work decreased strongly both in absolute terms (-27,500) and relative terms; in 2013 they represented more than 33%, while in 2014 were 23% of the new issued permits. The permits for asylum and other humanitarian reasons are doubled: if in 2013 they were 19,146, in 2014 are 47,873. In relative terms they are 19.3% of new inflows, while in the 2013 were 7.5%.
In the 2014 Mali, Nigeria and Gambia were the most relevant countries of citizenship with permits issued for asylum and other humanitarian reasons: they represent 42% of all permits issued for this reason.
From 2011 to 2014 the acquisitions of citizenship of Non-EU citizens increased quickly: in 2011 they were 50 thousands, in 2014 they are 120 thousands. Between the two last years an increase of 28.7% has been registered. 40% of acquisitions of citizenship in 2014 involved people who had previously the nationality of Morocco (29,025) and Albania (21,148).
The number of acquisitions of citizenship granted to children by transmission and of persons born in Italy to foreign parents who chose Italian citizenship at eighteen years of age has rapidly grown: from about ten thousands in 2011 to near 48 thousands in 2014. People under 20 years represent 40% of the 2014’s new Italian citizens.
For information:
Socio-demographic and environmental statistics directorate
Cinzia Conti
ph. +39 06 4673.7366
ciconti@istat.it