Internal migration patterns of foreign citizens in Italy

Internal migration has a strong impact on population redistribution, and plays a significant role in social cohesion. In Italy, the foreign population is a mosaic made up of minorities with different demographic characteristics. The aim of this study is to unveil, by means of a gravity model and using data from the Italian population register from 2014 to 2017, significant differences between national and foreign citizens’ inter-provincial migration patterns. Some migrants, such as the Ukrainian citizens, follow a process of spatial assimilation while others, as in the case of Chinese citizens, respond to the call of migration networks. The role played by the distance of the inter-provincial migration in making these moves is also different, and varies from citizenship to citizenship: Indians and Albanians are more willing to travel longer distances; conversely, Romanians and Ukrainians frequently opt for shorter moves.