Italians resident abroad are 6.6 million, more than twice as much as 20 years ago. In 2006 there were little more than 3.1 million, while at 1 January 2026 members of the AIRE, the Register of Italians resident abroad, reached 6,630,284. Compared to the previous year, more than 217 thousand units increased, 3.4%. These are the main data of the Italian Report in the World 2026, presented on 12 November in Rome by the Fondazione Migrantes, the body of the Italian Episcopal Conference that deals with migration.
However, the number of people who have left Italy in the last year does not correspond to the increase in membership. The AIRE also includes those who were born abroad by Italian parents and those who acquired Italian citizenship. Of the 6.6 million members, 46.1% is registered for expatriation, while 41.7%, about 2.8 million people, by birth abroad. The figure therefore includes very different migratory stories, from the departures of recent years to families living outside Italy for several generations.
To understand how many people have actually moved in the last year you have to look at Istat statistics. In 2025 109.004 espatri of Italian citizens and 56,451 repatriations were recorded, with a negative balance of approximately 52,500 people. 57.3% of those who moved abroad were between 20 and 39 years old, while the middle age of migrants was about thirty years old. The departures decreased by 22.7% compared to 2024, when they had reached a particularly high level, also because of the new norms that made the enrollment obligation to AIRE more stringent. In the same period 3.4% also shrinks.
If the comparison is extended to the last ten years, however, a different trend emerges. Compared to 2015 the espares increased by 6.6%, while the repatriations grew by 88%. We continue to leave more than we return, but the indents have taken more weight than the past.
Another change concerns people moving. In 2015 Italian citizens born abroad represented 22.8% of expatriates; in 2025 they arrived at 34%, about 37 thousand people. This category also includes people with a family history of immigration in Italy who, after obtaining Italian citizenship, decide to move back, sometimes towards their country of origin. Even among those who return to Italy increases the share of their natives abroad, which reached 38.8%. Speaking of Italian migration then changes meaning, because it also means considering the movements of people who have acquired citizenship during their lives or who have grown out of national borders.
The geographical distribution of members shows how important the history of southern emigration is. 44.5% of Italians resident abroad are linked to a region of the South or the Islands. Sicily is the first region by absolute number, with over 855 thousand members. However, if we consider the new registrations to the AIRE for expatriation recorded in 2025, 52.8% comes from Northern Italy, especially from Lombardy and Veneto. The weight of emigration remains particularly evident in the smaller territories: in Molise the number of AIRE members is 37.1% of the resident population, in Basilicata at 30% and in Calabria at 26%. These reports also include descendants born abroad and do not measure only recent departures.
The destinations tell in turn two different stories. Looking at all residents abroad, Argentina hosts the largest Italian community, with over one million members, followed by Germany, with about 855 thousand, and from Brazil, with 760 thousand. The United States is in seventh place, with 358,508 Italian citizens enrolled in AIRE: a fact that concerns those who own citizenship and therefore does not include all Americans of Italian origin. Overall, 53.1% of subscribers live in Europe and 41.8% on the American continent.
Among the destinations of the most recent departures is acquiring importance Spain. In 2025 it was the second country for new inscriptions to AIRE due to expatriation, with 9,916 recordings, little less than 10,137 of Germany. The move to the Iberian country has almost tripled over the last five years and the Italian community now has over 321 thousand members of the AIRE. According to the Report, 37.1% of the Italians who moved there have a university degree. In July 2026 more than 223 thousand Italian workers were registered with the Spanish social security system. Among the reasons for choosing Spain there are professional opportunities, but also the cost and quality of life, the possibility to reconcile work with personal commitments and conditions offered to families.
A substantial part of the 2026 edition of the Report is dedicated to work, curated by Delfina Licata and entitled “Working far away”, building elsewhere. Through 21 contributions dedicated to 24 countries, from Germany to the United Arab Emirates, from Mexico to the United States, the research tries to describe the occupations of Italians abroad and the conditions in which they are carried out. In addition to the sectors traditionally linked to emigration, such as catering and services, there are more and more researchers, technicians, health professionals, entrepreneurs and workers in specialized industries.
Having a degree or professional qualification, however, does not necessarily guarantee better conditions than Italy. The Report shows difficulties in recognition of qualifications, precarious contracts, wages that do not always compensate for the increase in the cost of life and problems of access to the house. These are conditions that can concern both those who work in catering and a university researcher. A research conducted by the Iref, a research institute for the ACLI, in the cities of Barcelona, Berlin, London, Paris and Zurich has also collected testimonies of Italians who are struggling to recognize themselves in the category of migrants, while encountering employment and housing difficulties similar to those of other foreign workers.
The expectations for work are also changing. The Report describes a greater focus on the balance between private and professional life, the possibility of changing employment and the recognition of skills. Remuneration remains important, but in the choice of transfer there is also the availability of services, the prospects for growth and the quality of the working environment. For some professionals, moreover, living abroad does not necessarily involve working for an enterprise of the country of destination: you can continue to collaborate with Italian companies, manage activities distributed in multiple states or move periodically between different locations.
These changes led the Migrantes Foundation to question the representation of emigration as a definitive loss of skills. Those who work abroad can maintain professional relationships with Italy, build business relationships and return with useful experiences to the national market. But the benefits of these exchanges are not automatic, especially for the territories that continue to lose young and qualified population. According to Istat, between 2019 and 2025 the Mezzogiorno has lost about 150 thousand Italian graduates between 25 and 34 years, mainly directed towards the Centre-North, but partly also abroad.
L’articolo Italians abroad are more than doubled in twenty years proviene da IlNewyorkese.
