StWe are in the aftermath of a tragedy of the seathe one that took place on Sunday near the coast of Calabria, just 150 meters from the shoreline in front of Picket fence of Cutro. A shipwreck that cost the lives of at least 67 people (only 23 of whom have been identified): and just this morning the funeral home was opened to mourn them, in the Palasport of Crotone. A shipwreck like none seen since that of Lampedusa (October 3, 2013, 368 confirmed dead), or of the Strait of Sicily, in 2015 (with victims never verified). The issue of migrants thus dramatically returns to the center of the political debate. But if this case is striking, the drama is instead daily. dto 2014 to September 25, 2022, are 25,000 migrants dead and missing in the Mediterranean trying to reach Europe (Ismu data). So it is worth understanding who these people are who leave their country and too often die off our coasts.
The landings of migrants on the Italian coasts
The landings recorded on the Italian coasts in 2022 were 105,129 (+55.8% compared to 2021). If the number of recorded landings is undoubtedly growing, their overall composition by citizenship has changed a lot compared to the years of the 2014-2017 crisis, when – with the exception of the flows from Syria in 2014 – people originating from sub-Africa Saharan. In 2022 the largest flows come from Egypt (20,542), Tunisia (18,148) and Bangladesh (14,982).
The crossings recorded at the land border, in particular with Slovenia, are also particularly substantial: the most recent data speak of around 8,000 entries between the beginning of the year and October 2022.
Asylum requests: they don’t just come from the sea
Moving on to the asylum requests, it is important to specify that not all entries by sea are transformed into asylum requests and that part of the asylum requests derive in turn from entry channels different from landings (entries by land, humanitarian corridors, entries at the airport border, entries under the Dublin regulation). However, the renewed flow of entries undoubtedly contributed to the growth of asylum applications in 2021 (53,609, + 98.8% compared to 2020).
Steccato di Cutro, Calabria: a little girl’s onesie on the beach after the shipwreck. 81 people were saved by swimming to shore (Photo by Alfonso Di Vincenzo/KONTROLAB/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Irregulars decrease, residence permits increase
If the demographic balance therefore shows a moderate recovery, the irregular component decreases, which stands at 506,000 units, against 519,000 in the previous year (-2.5%). Decline mainly due to the progress of the procedures relating to the 2020 amnesty. 2021 marks a significant increase in new residence permits (about 242 thousand, +127% compared to the previous year). They are for reasons of asylum, 12.8% (31 thousand). From Work – attributable to the emergence of people already present illegally – 21% (51 thousand). They double those for study (18 thousand, but we are still below the level of the precovid era), and for reasons family members (122 thousand).
On the employment front, in 2021 we are witnessing a growth in both the activity rate of foreigners and the employment rate. However, the data on the poverty: in 2021 the absolute one affects 30.6% of foreign-only households. Furthermore, it is observed that the high incidence of immigrant families in conditions of absolute and relative poverty, even among legally employed foreigners, is the indicator of the spread of “poor” work, no longer able to generate integration, but which rather produces discomfort social.
Who are they and where do migrants come from?
6 out of 10 foreigners come from third countries. The median age is 36.3 years old and males account for 51%. Non-EU citizens come mostly from Morocco (408 thousand), Albania (397 thousand), China (291 thousand), Ukraine (230 thousand). Non-EU citizens who became Italian in 2021 are mainly Albanian, Moroccan and Brazilian.
THE Christians taken as a whole they represent the absolute majority (53.1%) among foreigners residing in Italy, with a presence of Catholic immigrants which stands at 17.1%. Muslims alone represent 29.4%, followed by Buddhists (3.5%), Hindus (2.1%), Sikhs (1.7%) and other religions (0.4%). Atheists or agnostics amount to 9.9%, or one immigrant out of 10. Moving on to absolute values, it is estimated that Muslims are 1 million 539 thousand, Orthodox Christians 1 million 524 thousand and Catholics 898 thousand.
Foreign students in Italy: less than 30% per school
On the school front, in the 2020/2021 year, for the first time in about 40 years there has been a decrease in the number of pupils with a migrant background (there are about 865 thousand, with a decrease of 11,413 compared to the previous school year). However, given the constant numerical decline of the Italian school population, the share of pupils with a migrant background remains equal to 10.3% of the total number of students enrolled in Italian schools. It should also be noted that i born in Italy represent 66.7% of students with non-Italian citizenship.
Students with non-Italian citizenship come from almost 200 different countries and 45% of them are of European origin, more than ¼ from Africa, 20% from Asia and around 8% from Latin America. Romania, Albania and Morocco are the most numerous communities in schools, each exceeding 100 thousand presences. Lombardy welcomes more than 220,000 students with CNI and in any case the majority of students with a migration background are concentrated in the northern regions. Nel Nell a.s. 2020/21 the majority of Italian schools are in the range with less than 30% of pupils of foreign origin (74.6%), while those with 30% and more of pupils with immigrant origin remain steadily at 6.9%. 27% of students with CNI are behind in school (there were 41.5% in 2009/2010): a figure that is still very high, which adds up to another worrying phenomenon: early school leaving.
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