Italy: immigrants' arrivals in Italy 2014-2021

From January to November 2021, 59.7 thousand migrants arrived by sea in Italy. In 2020, 34.1 thousand migrants arrivals on the Italian coasts. Between 2014 and 2020, the number of migrants setting foot in the country peaked in 2016 at 181 thousand individuals. Among the most frequent countries of origin declared upon arrivals in 2021, Tunisia and Bangladesh ranked first. About 14 thousand people were Tunisian, while around six thousand immigrants came from Bangladesh.

Asylum seekers and minors among the migrants

In 2020, the largest number of asylum applicants in Italy were from Pakistan. For instance, 646 requests were recorded only in December 2020, while 467 applicants were from Bangladesh, the second most common nationality among the asylum seekers that month. In the last years, many unaccompanied minors reached the Italian coasts. In 2021, 7.2 thousand children migrated without their parents into the country.

Contrasting opinions and distorted perceptions

 According to the data published by Ipsos, a part of Italians tend to overestimate the size of the immigrated population. The results of this survey uncovered the presence of distorted perceptions in 2018: people thought that about 28 percent of the Italian population was not born in Italy, whereas the actual percentage was around ten. Furthermore, the public opinion on migration was controversial. In the same year, roughly half of the population perceived migrants as a risk for the Italian economy. On the other hand, 18 percent of Italians believed that migration could be a resource for the country.