Over the course of 2018, immigration became one of the main issues facing the European Union and its constituent countries, a development reflected in the significant media coverage of the issue, as well as by its increasingly central role as a topic of political debate and among public opinion.
While estimating Italy’s foreign population on 1 January 2018 at 6 million and 108 thousand individuals, this 24th ISMU Foundation Report analyses migratory flows and the various phenomena associated with the new immigrant presence, starting from the observation that immigration is receiving more attention and is being exaggerated and exploited to a greater degree in a year when the number of migrants reaching Europe has fallen significantly.
As well as the traditional areas of interest (demographics, legislation, labour and education), the Report examines a number of other current phenomena related to migration: the attitudes of Italians towards immigrants; the relationship between Europe, Africa and immigration; the outcome of Italy’s2018 political elections; the Brexit debate; and the crisis of the European asylum system.
