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Demographic balance of the Italian population residing abroad and population on 1st January by region and foreign country of AIRE registration

The demographic balance of the Italian population residing abroad and the Population on 1st January, by Italian region of AIRE (Register of Italian Citizens Residing Abroad) registration at NUT2 level and by foreign country of residence, are obtained by validating and consolidating the microdata on demographic trends collected through notifications sent by municipalities to the ANPR (National Register of the Resident Population) system. Data consolidation is carried out by cross-referencing this records with the results of the Permanent Population Census, as they pertain to Italian citizens residing in Italy. The data collection includes all events involving the registration and deregistration of individuals in the municipal AIRE registers - including births, deaths, changes of residence from/to Italy, changes of residence from/to another foreign country, and other administrative changes.

Under the law on the Registry and Census of Italians Abroad (Law No. 470 of October 27, 1988, as amended and supplemented), subject to certain exceptions (Articles 8 and 9), Italian citizens who have permanently moved abroad are required to register with the AIRE (Article 2). Data from the annual demographic balance of the population are published by individual foreign country of residence.

Demographic balance of the Italian population residing abroad and population on 1st January by region and foreign country of AIRE registration

Acquisitions of Italian citizenship: foreign citizens residing abroad who in the reference year acquired Italian citizenship (by marriage, iure sanguinis recognition, direct transmission to a cohabiting minor, etc.) and registered with AIRE. They are estimated by integrating the data from the ANPR flow of AIRE registrations for acquisition of Italian citizenship with the part of AIRE registrations by birth that does not refer to births that occurred during the year or to births registered late (see methodological note).

AIRE Registration Region: the region of last residence corresponding to the municipality where the individual was registered in AIRE.

Deaths: deaths of Italian citizens that occurred in the reference year and registered in the AIRE.

Emigrants to Italy (repatriations): Italian citizens who in the reference year moved their residence from abroad to an Italian municipality, registered as a transfer from AIRE to APR.

Emigrants to other foreign countries: Italian citizens who in the reference year moved their residence from the foreign country to another foreign country (change of AIRE address).

Immigrants from Italy (expatriations): Italian citizens who in the reference year moved their residence from an Italian municipality to abroad, registered as a transfer from the APR to the AIRE.

Immigrants from other foreign countries: Italian citizens who in the reference year moved their residence to the foreign country, coming from another foreign country (change of AIRE address).

Live births: births of Italian citizens that occurred in the reference year and registered in the AIRE.

Migration balance: (Transferred from Italy + Registered from another foreign country) - (Transferred to Italy + Canceled to another foreign country).

Migration balance with Italy: Transferred from Italy - Transferred to Italy.

Migration balance with other foreign countries: Registered from another foreign country - Canceled to another foreign country.

Natural balance: Births - Deaths.

Others cancelled: citizens canceled by AIRE for other reasons, including cancellations due to presumed unavailability, those canceled late due to death, those canceled for other reasons not classifiable elsewhere.

Others registered: citizens registered with AIRE for other reasons, including re-registrations following previous cancellation due to unavailability, registrations due to late birth, registrations for other reasons not elsewhere classifiable.

Population on 1st January: For the year 2022 it is the population calculated starting from the population registered at the end of the year, applying the 2022 balance flows backwards, also taking into account the statistical adjustment.

Population on 31st December: it is the population registered at the end of the year.

Statistical adjustment: the statistical adjustment is the sum of the following components: the balance of the items relating to other members and others canceled by AIRE, of those canceled due to loss of Italian citizenship and the balance of comparison operations with the census of resident Italians in Italy. It takes shape and visibility in the definitive demographic balance of the year, following the release of the data from the last permanent census.

Demographic balance of the Italian population residing abroad and population on 1st January by region and foreign country of AIRE registration

As of July xx, 2026, the population flows (births, deaths, acquisitions of Italian citizenship, and changes of residence between foreign countries) related to the 2022 and 2023 demographic balances of the Italian population residing abroad were revised in light of process innovations that made it possible to define the demographic events that occurred during the year with greater precision and reliability. In this context, the new validation procedures have led to a recalibration of the observed trends, with a view to progressively improving the quality of the statistical information produced. The revised data therefore fully replace those previously disseminated.

The flow data in the population balance (births, deaths, transfers of residence, acquisitions of Italian citizenship, other registrations and cancellations) are processed starting from the communications sent to Istat by the ANPR system of the Ministry of the Interior.

ANPR is the single national database containing data from the municipal registers of Italian and foreign citizens resident in Italy (Registry of the Resident Population – APR) and of Italian citizens residing abroad (Registry of Italians Resident Abroad – AIRE) , with the relative variations.

Births and deaths refer to the date of the event, while for all other flows the reference is to the date of the operation carried out by the municipality (registration, cancellation, mutation). For births and deaths, the operations carried out in the reference year and the following year were taken into account.

Registrations by birth of subjects born before the reference year and adults, or minors with the holder of the family born abroad or born in countries of ancient Italian emigration were counted among the acquisitions of Italian citizenship. The other registrations by birth with the date of the event preceding the reference year were counted among the other registrations.

The provisional data are the result of estimation operations that take into account the delays in the notification of events, through a corrective coefficient calculated on the basis of the delays observed in the two previous years, for each flow and for each country. The estimates thus obtained are subjected to statistical tests to ensure their temporal and territorial coherence. Otherwise, migratory flows - relating to expatriations, repatriations and movements between foreign countries - do not require further statistical adjustments.

Cancellations due to death with an event date prior to the reference year were counted among other cancellations.

The determination of the number of Italian citizens residing abroad at the end of the year is the result of the integration of various administrative sources and census results relating to the population usually residing in Italy determined by the Permanent Population Census, in an attempt to make the relevant data coherent to Italians as a whole, whether they reside in Italy or abroad. Therefore, not only the AIRE and the Consular Registers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were used, but also the "signs of life" in Italy from the other administrative sources of the Permanent Population Census (including the Tax Register of the Ministry of Economy and Finances for the identification of deceased individuals) to define the population count of Italians residing abroad and correct or integrate any inconsistencies found in the two archives.