Immigration and emigration are both surging in ITALY, say national agencies:
New Delhi: The number of Italians leaving countries is the highest in the decade, raising concerns. But on the other hand, immigrants are also soaring in the nation, as per the official data shown on Friday, which is fuelling concerns of brain drain, immigration, and economic decline.
ITALY has elected a right-wing movement, which has curbed migrant arrivals and has a mandate regarding immigration, whereas in other shrinking populations, labour shortages highlight the importance of attracting foreign immigrants.
Further, the inflation levels of the nation have blown down below the 1990 level in adjusted levels, and the country’s stagnant economy—low wages and salaries—has pushed Italians to seek better opportunities abroad.
Last year 382,071 foreigners moved to Italy, up from 378,372 in 2023 and the highest since 2014, statistics agency Istat said. In the same period, 155,732 Italians emigrated, up from 114,057 in 2023 and also the highest since 2014.
The immigration figure beat the previous high for the last decade of 301,000 in 2017 and was well above that period’s low of 191,766 from 2020—the height of the COVID pandemic.
Among the immigrants, Ukrainians topped the list, followed by Albanians, Bangladeshis, Moroccans, Romanians, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Argentines, and Tunisians.
(Subham Singh)
