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Recent Developments | Italy | bpb.de

Italy Introduction Historical Development of Immigration Recent Developments Migration Policies The Immigrant Population Citizenship Immigrant Integration and Integration Policy Irregular Migration Refuge and Asylum Future Challenges Literature and Internet Resources

Recent Developments

Dr. Giorgia Di Muzio

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In 1991, Italy was, for the first time, confronted with "mass immigration". On only two days, that is March 7th and August 8th, around 50,000 Albanian refugees landed on the coasts of Apulia after the collapse of the Albanian communist regime. The images spread by the media of this massive influx or, as it was perceived by the Italian public "invasion" of migrants, fostered feelings of concern with regard to immigration. 25,000 Albanians were sent back to their country of origin.

Yet, immigration from Albania did not come to a halt. Since 1997 Albanians have been represented among the two largest immigrant groups. Between 2003 and 2004 alone their number grew by 40%. All in all, immigration from Eastern European countries has significantly increased in recent years thus majorly changing the composition of the immigrant population. Most striking is the increase in the number of Romanian and Ukrainian citizens on Italian territory (cf. Table 2). Between 2003 and 2004, in only one year, the Romanian community grew by 140%, becoming the largest immigrant group in Italy in three consecutive years. Likewise, the Ukrainian population rose from 15,000 people in 2003 to more than 117,000 people in 2004, an increase of 700% in just one year. This was also an effect of the large regularization of irregular immigrants which took place in 2002/2003 (cf. "Irregular Migration"). Apart from the growing presence of citizens from Eastern European countries in Italy the Chinese population has also experienced significant growth in recent years (cf. Table 2).

Number of foreign visa owners, 1992-2007

Top five countries of origin

Marocco Tunisia USA Philippines Germany Yugoslavia Albania China Romania Ukraine
1992 83.29241.54741.52336.31626.377
1993 66.52627.35640.96030.22026.767
1994 72.46428.85642.000530.99236.782
1995 73.07643.44932.62529.02836.855
199681.24730.66644.83036.00733.905
1997115.02640.00244.87356.20966.608
1998112.23041.43944.65257.31272.551
1999128.29745.94459.07487.59541.237
2000155.86467.386133.01856.66061.212
2001162.25465.073146.32160.14369.999
2002167.33467.258157.64661.45282.555
2003170.74665.675171.56764.01094.818
2004231.044240.421104.952244.377117.161
2005235.012251.240106.750249.369111.570
2006239.728256.916114.165271.491115.087
2007258.271282.650122.364278.582118.524

Source: Elaboration by the author based on Geo-Demo Istat data

Within the last thirty years Italy has turned from a migrant sending into an immigrant receiving country. The speed of this development which is somewhat typical of other Mediterranean countries such as Greece, Portugal and Spain as well has had a significant impact on the evolution of Italy's migration policies.

Fussnoten

Fußnoten

  1. For more information on the so-called "Mediterranean Model of immigration" see Pugliese (2002).

Weitere Inhalte

Dr. Giorgia Di Muzio studied political science and sociology at the University of Bologna. She wrote her doctoral thesis on Eastern European women in the household and care market in Italy.

E-mail: E-Mail Link: giorgia.dimuzio@unibo.it