L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2022 www.italoamericano.org 4 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS T his is the time of the year when we tend to look back at our life and at the experiences we've enjoyed - or not - in the twelve months about to end. T h e F o n d a z i o n e Migrantes, a pastoral orga- nization coordinated by the Conferenza Episcopale Ital- iana (CEI, the Italian Episco- pal Conference) did just that in relation to the migration status of the country. Need- l e s s t o s a y , i t u n c o v e r e d interesting information. This year's Rapporto degli Italiani nel Mondo (the Ital- ians in the World Report) compiled by Fondazione Migrantes focuses on Italy both as a destination and a p o i n t o f d e p a r t u r e f o r migrants. Data show that Italians have never stopped emigrating. Especially in very recent years, including those after the pandemic, the com- munity of Italians registered with AIRE (Anagrafe Ital- iani Residenti all'Estero), officially grew larger than that of foreign individuals residing legally in Italy. Italy is growing to be a multicultural country, as 8 . 8 % o f f o r e i g n c i t i z e n s demonstrate, yet the number of Italians who have moved a b r o a d i s h i g h e r : 9 . 8 % . There are some differences: the foreign population in Italy is on average younger than Italians residing abroad. Indeed the Migrantes Report found out that 1,3 million of our "kids" under the age of 18 have a migratory back- ground (13%). Young Ital- ians, therefore, are more and more culturally diverse, and they may be dreaming of, one day, leaving Italy to seek for- t u n e s o m e w h e r e i n t h e world. The Migrantes Report also speaks of an "Italy out- s i d e o f I t a l y , " f o r m e d b y young Italian people who do not feel welcomed nor appre- ciated for what they can con- tribute, and so they leave seeking fortune elsewhere. The result is a country whose younger generation is leaving t o b r i n g t h e i r e x p e r t i s e , skills, joie de vivre and youth somewhere else. As of the 1st of January 2022, the Migrantes Report continues, the Italians regis- t e r e d w i t h A I R E w e r e 5,806,068, or 10% of Italians (we are 58,9 million in the B e l p a e s e ) . D a t a a r e e v e n more striking when consider- ing that the Italian popula- tion grew last year by a mere 0,5% (even less than in 2020, the year of the pandemic), while it increased around the world by 2.7%. If it is true that the num- ber of Italians living abroad is on the rise, we need to make some more considera- tions to clarify why it has been happening. Both inter- nal and external factors have been contributing to the sta- t u s q u o . T h e c o n t i n u e d migratory trend of Italians towards foreign countries brought to the rise of their numbers around the world, just like the birth of children abroad born from Italian parents who maintain alive in their culture and habits a l s o t h e i r I t a l i a n r o o t s . There's been an increase of 167% in the number of Ital- ian children born abroad, c h i l d r e n w h o e n r i c h , t h e report states, the culture and multiculturalism of our own country, even from a distance b e c a u s e t h e y b r i n g a l o n g with them, when they return, all the characteristics and c u l t u r a l h a b i t s t h e y h a v e inherited from their birth country. That of the Italian nation depicted by the report is an image different, perhaps, from what we are used to Italians - both in Italy and abroad - are becoming true citizens of the world. Some have been Italians for genera- tions, their origins lost into the dusty records of their parish church or municipali- ty; others were born in Italy, but have deep and meaning- ful ties with another land, through their parents and families, ties they cherish and nurture, along with those they naturally developed with their own country of birth, Italy. Other still, came to I t a l y a t a l a t e r s t a g e a n d became Italian by residence: they call Italy and somewhere else in the world their home. Then, we have the "Ital- ians abroad:" the young pro- fessionals who moved from a country that, perhaps, didn't do enough for them, nor did it ensure their qualities were valorized; others were born away from Italy, but their family heritage is still solidly rooted in the Belpaese. T h e I t a l i a n n a t i o n i s expanding, it's spreadings its branches everywhere, from Europe to the US and Latin America, but it's a different nation from what we were used to it's embracing multi- ethnicity after decades of dif- fidence, and it has finally u n d e r s t o o d t h e c u l t u r a l importance of all the Italians living abroad. So, the first thing to keep in mind in 2023 is that there are way more Italians around the world than we think: and each of them is an essential piece of our national cultural identity. The many faces of Italy in 2023 Recent data show that the number of Italians abroad is growing (Photo: William Perugini/Shutterstock) FRANCESCA BEZZONE

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