In the years 2011 and 2012 56.4% of foreign citizens aged 6 and over and resident in Italy are Christians (2 million and 56 thousand people out of 3 million and 639 thousand of foreign citizens aged 6 and over resident in Italy). Among them Orthodox are 27%, Catholics 25.1%\u00a0 and Protestants 2.7%. Whereas Muslims are 26.3%, Buddhists are about 3% and 7.1% are atheist.<\/p>\n
Most of Orthodox are among Romanians (62.2%), as well as Buddhists are mainly Chinese (63.8%). Muslims are mostly among Moroccans (34.8%), Albanians (15.3%) and Tunisians (8.3%). Catholics are mostly among Romanians (11.7%), Albanians (10.7%), people from the Philippines (10.2%), Polish people (8.9%), Peruvians (8.1%) and Ecuadorians (7.1%).<\/p>\n
The gender diversity of the main foreign communities in Italy is also reflected in religious belonging. There is a prevalence of Muslims among men (33.1% of men compared to 20.4% of women) whereas women are mostly Orthodox (31% compared to 22.2% of men) and Catholics (28% compared to 21,8% of men).<\/p>\n
About half of 6-24 year old foreign young people are Christian. Mostly are\u00a0 Catholics and Orthodox (23.2% of young people aged\u00a0 6-17 years are Catholic and 25.6% of people aged 18-24 years are Orthodox). Among younger people the Muslims are about 30% of total. Whereas among older foreign citizens there are many Christians (59.2% of people aged 25 years and over), most of them are Catholics and Orthodox, above all among people aged 45 years old and over (Catholics are 29% and Orthodox 28.5%).<\/p>\n
For information
\nSociodemografic and environmental stastistics directorate<\/strong>
\nMonica Perez
\nph. +39 06 4673.7321
\nperez@istat.it<\/a><\/p>\n