Alessandro FOTI, Telmo PIEVANI - L’ Italia ha un problema: l’ emigrazione

A mass exodus in which too many leave and few arrive In 2024, 191,000 people officially left Italy, 156,000 of whom were Italian citizens, a 36.5% increase over the previous year. Such a high number of expatriates had not been recorded since the late 1960s. Furthermore, experts tell us that these figures are underestimated due to poorly functioning registry systems; in fact, the actual numbers would be around double or triple the official figures. If this were true, it would mean that 0.5-0.8% of the entire national population left in a single year. This is not physiological international mobility, as many would have us believe. In a situation of balanced mobility and relative Italian attractiveness, we should see many English students pursuing doctorates at Italian universities, or young German engineers working on Italian infrastructure projects, or Dutch or French doctors and nurses present in our hospitals. But no. We go there, we integrate into foreign labor systems, which are structured and open to welcoming foreigners, and they don't come to us, except on vacation. It's a one-way process. The interesting thing is that within the contemporary emigration phenomenon, a new trend is being observed: more and more people with specific training are leaving. The latest statistics tell us that among the young people leaving, graduates now account for half. Fifteen years ago, it was a quarter. Thus, a perverse system has been created in Italy where the more you study, the more you are pushed out. It doesn't seem like a great strategy for a country that wants to survive in an international context characterized by a race for technology and highly specialized skills. www.festivalcomunicazione.it