Long-term trends of internal migration in Italy

Abstract

This study reviews trends in interprovincial migration in Italy over the last 40 years, with reference to the mobility transition model. The overall intensity of interprovincial migration declined significantly in the mid-1970s. Subsequently there has been a slow decline, and at the beginning of the 1990s interprovincial mobility reached a level of about 10 moves per 1000 persons per year. This paper provides a description and interpretation of these migration patterns, using population register data at the provincial scale. The regional patterns of interprovincial migration were very pronounced in the 1950s and 1960s, and characterised by rural to urban and South to North migration. After more balanced geographical patterns in the mid-1970s, the demographic efficiency of interprovincial migrations indicates a rise in short-distance moves in the case of suburban migrations, and renewed South to North migrations. These changes in the regional patterns of interprovincial migration were closely related to the economic and social transformations in Italy since the 1950s. Special attention is given to the role of the metropolitan provinces: Rome, Milan, Naples and Turin. These provinces serve as centres of attraction and distribution of interprovincial migration flows, and the changes observed for these four provinces over the study period aid the understanding of the overall changes in the national migration system. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.