Immigration and foreign people in six Italian metropolitan areas

The study deals with size, main features (citizenship, sex and age) and legal status (settled and semi-settled legal migrants, illegal or irregular migrants) of foreign population in six Italian metropolitan areas (Rome, Milan, Turin, Naples, Bologna and Palermo). Available data and their reliability are first analysed. The six metropolitan provinces reveal a very high concentration of foreign population, Rome and Milan in particular. The general picture is that of an increasing concentration of foreign residents in the capital city, but at the same time of the growing scattering in the metropolitan municipalities. Estimates for illegal or irregular migrants, obtained by applying the shares of illegality emerged from sample surveys to the regular stock, suggest that the percentage of illegal and irregular immigrants is particularly high in the provinces of Rome and Naples and is mainly connected with flows from Eastern Europe and North Africa. According to the findings of the study, the six metropolitan areas concerned are bound to take the right approaches to foreign communities in order to foster the best integration processes for the new ethnic minorities.