Despite weak Italian economy, immigrants from conflict hit countries rise

More Italians leaving Italy as jobless rates reached a record high of 12.7 per cent.

ROME: Despite a general fall in immigrants arriving in Italy during 2012, official figures released by Italian authorities on Monday showed that migrants from conflict hit countries such as Pakistan and Nigeria were on the rise.

In recent months, there have been reports of illegal immigrants from countries such as Pakistan, Nigeria and Bangladesh braving unsafe trafficking routes across the Mediterranean to gain access to Italy.

Earlier in January, Italian authorities intercepted four boats with 823 men, women and children aboard who were escaping from conflict hit countries including Egypt, Pakistan, Iraq and Tunisia.

The navy rescued 233 migrants from Eritrea, Nigeria, Somalia, Zambia, Mali and Pakistan in a separate operation and took them to a port near Syracuse on Sicily’s eastern coast.

More Italians leaving Italy

The number of Italians leaving their recession-hit country to seek work elsewhere rose sharply in 2012, while incoming migration levels dropped, official figures showed Monday.

The figures support reports that Italy - hit hard by the financial crisis and rocketing unemployment levels - is losing brain power and labour to other countries and has also become less appealing a destination for foreigners.

The number of Italians leaving the country rose by 36.0 per cent to 68,000 people, up from 50,000 in 2011. They headed primarily for Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and France, the national institute of statistics (ISTAT) said.

More than a quarter of over 24-year-olds emigrating had university degrees, it said.

Conversely, the number of immigrants arriving dropped by close to 10 per cent in 2012 from a year earlier, to 321,000 people.

Italy's economy stopped contracting in the third quarter of 2013, technically bringing to an end its longest post-war recession, but it is still struggling with an unemployment crisis and rising debt and deficit levels.

Jobless rates have reached a record high of 12.7 per cent and unemployment among 15- to 24-year-olds stands at 41.6 per cent.

According to a Bank of Italy report released Monday, half of Italian families live on less than 2,000 euros ($2,700) a month.

Fewer immigrants from EU, SA, more from Africa, Asia

There were fewer immigrants from Moldova, Ukraine, Peru and Ecuador, but there was an increase in people fleeing from countries hit by conflict, such as Nigeria, Pakistan, Mali and the Ivory Coast.