Indian immigration to Italy: concentration, internal mobility and economic crisis

Abstract

ABSTRACT The spatial concentration of immigrants has become a concern for local administrations in most European countries, as it is perceived as an obstacle to their better integration in host societies. Indian immigration to Italy began in the 1960s, but large-scale immigration of unskilled labour from Punjab and Haryana (North-West Indian states) began during the 1990s. This influx was formed by young men who entered Italy in search of economic opportunities and then concentrated spatially in the economically active regions. In this paper, using the municipal registers of inhabitants (Anagrafe), the residence permits records and the 2011 census data, firstly, I made a spatial analysis (LISA) of the settlement pattern of Indian immigrants in Italy; second, I explored the internal mobility pattern (through a gravity model) of Indian immigrants compared to other immigrant groups during 2005–2015; and finally, I studied the impact of the recent economic crisis on Indian immigration.