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Intercultural dialogue

The European Union declared 2008, the year of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to be the "European Year of Intercultural Dialogue".
Europe is increasingly a meeting place for people of different origins, with different languages, religions and lifestyles.
The enlargement of Europe, globalization and the removal of barriers such as employment laws in order to promote an efficient, competitive labour market have led to an increasingly multicultural society in many countries, including Italy.
The low birth rate in Italy, increasing life spans, the ageing population and consequently the increasingly small proportion of people of working age have made Italy very attractive to migrants, a land of opportunity where they can find a job and a better life.
In this pluralistic society the issue of integration, as a two-way process based on cultural exchange between foreign residents and the local population, and the promotion of intercultural dialogue are increasingly important.

Top  The integration of migrants in Europe

According to the Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) (Note 1), which evaluates and classifies the efficiency of integration policies on the basis of synthetic comparable data such as labour market access, family reunion, access to nationality, length of stay, anti-discrimination and political participation, in 2006 Italy ranked seventh out of 28 mainly European countries, with a score of 65% compared to the average of 54%. (Figure 16.1)
Sweden ranks top, with an 88% index, proving itself to have the most efficient policies: Sweden is top of every field with 100% for labour market access, good results also in political participation (93%) and anti-discrimination (94%). Lithuania, Cyprus, Austria, Greece and Slovakia have the least favourable policies.
France and Germany have a longer history of migration than Spain and Italy where migration developed in the late nineties. Yet Italy ranks higher than Spain, France and Germany, performing particularly well as regards labour market access and family reunion, ranking fourth with 85% and third with 79% respectively. Performance in security of employment and rights associated with labour market access is excellent (100%). The policies regarding eligibility for citizenship and those guaranteeing the social standing of the immigrant citizen are more restrictive. (Figure 16.2)
The acquisition of citizenship is a rather rare phenomenon in Italy. In most of the cases citizenship is acquired through marriage, whereas naturalisation (Note 2) is authorised only seldomly. With such a consistent in flow of migrants, Italy has had to face several problems, including those of a bureaucratic and legal nature. Schools and teachers, although now improving steadily, were initially unprepared educating children whose native language is not Italian. A further problem to face is that of recognising degrees and diplomas.

Top  Dynamics of the migrant population in Veneto

Foreign residents are part of every day life in Veneto and their number is growing, as can be seen in the larger cities, more industrialised areas, in schools and at work.
The increase in migration flows, but also the increasing integration and settling in Veneto, becomes visible through the formation of new families or family reunification, the increase in the number of births and school enrolments, as well as the growing presence of foreign workers and entrepreneurs.
Figures for the Veneto region
In 2006 nearly 12% of foreign residents in Italy settled in Veneto: There are over 350,000 and they now make up 7.3% of the population in Veneto, compared to 1.6% ten years ago. This share is significantly higher than the national average (5%). Although foreign residents are present throughout the region, there are greater concentrations in the more industrial areas in the provinces of Treviso, Vicenza and Verona. These areas alone account for 64.5% of foreign residents in Veneto. Also significant in terms of concentration of foreign residents is the area of Cadore. Growth in 2006 was 9.2% with different figures in the different provinces. Venice saw the greatest increase, 13.8%, followed by Padova and Rovigo with 10.9%. (Figure 16.3) and (Table 16.1)
For several years now the main countries of origin have been Romania, Morocco and Albania. Until 2005 there were more residents from Morocco but in 2006 they were overtaken by Romanians who accounted for nearly 14% of the foreign population. Migration flows of Romanians were further encouraged by the prospected accession to the European Union which then materialised in 2007.
All the main nationalities present are greatly increasing. Besides the boom of arrivals from Romania there has been an increase in the number of Chinese residents (+16.4%) and, mostly female, Moldavians (+15.5%). (Figure 16.4)
Foreign residents are the youngest
In Italy the decrease in the economically active population, above all the younger population, leads to a high demand for migrants. This is also true for Veneto, a region where foreign residents make up 8.5% of the population aged between 15 and 64, and over 13% of those aged 18-30, age of entry in the labour market.
If we look at the age distribution of the population resident in Veneto we can clearly see an aging population and a diminishing of the younger component. On the other hand over 77% of the over 300,000 foreign residents are of working age, more willing to move and ready to accept work in lower profile sectors which the local population decline.
An immediate consequence of having a significant number of young foreign residents is their greater fertility rate compared to the rest of the population, which is also linked to their greater propensity for having large families. Foreign residents either get married or are reunited with their families in Italy, and their families tend to be larger than Italian ones. Of the roughly 47 thousand births in Veneto in 2006, 17.3% of babies were born to foreign parents. (Figure 16.5) and (Table 16.2)
Foreign women: wives and workers
The immigrant population has changed in terms of gender distribution. While 62% of foreign residents were men in 1993, today that percentage has fallen to 53%. Women's presence is linked not only to family reunification but also to employment. Many foreign women come to Veneto for work: In 2006, 35% of residence permits were granted to women, which indicates a greater propensity for women to access employment and social security, on top of the security offered by their families.
Gender distribution depends a great deal on the area of origin. For instance, women account for well over half of the migrants from some Eastern European countries such as Moldavia, Poland and Ukraine. Also a lot of Romanian women have settled in Veneto. Most of them are domestic workers, many of whom used the recent opportunity of being regularised. Not all migrant women, however, work as 'badanti" (live-in carers). There are many migrant women, for instance the Chinese, who do not traditionally work in this sphere.

Top  Social Integration

Every year new arrivals join those who have already settled in Veneto. Often they come from difficult situations, they are insecure and needy because of their limited knowledge of the language and of how the new society works. As mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, a society where different cultures live together, sooner or later has to develop a new pact of social solidarity with rules that can reconcile conflicting values and procedures that can safeguard cultural differences, so as to unite everyone as part of this society.
A good snapshot of social integration on a regional level is provided by the CNEL report (Note 3), which compares different areas of the country in terms of their potential to attract migrants, considering the quality of reception, social integration processes and the opportunity of peacefully living together between the cultures. To this aim, three synthetic indicators have been elaborated: Polarization indices which take into account the different aspects of settlement, such as the incidence and permanence of residents, the index of social stability which combines data such as family reunions, length of stay, acquisition of citizenship and births, and the index of access to employment which summarises unemployment, demand for manual labour, pay, entrepreneurship and more. These three indices combine into a single index for integration, for which Veneto, together with Lombardia, attained the level of maximum integration, both second only to Trentino Alto Adige.
Veneto has improved since last year as regards access to employment, while the judgement for settling in the territory has slightly worsened, going down from maximum integration to high. Social stability has remained unchanged with Veneto confirming its maximum score. (Figure 16.6)
Vicenza ranks fourth of all Italian provinces for its level of social integration. Treviso comes next, though it has gone down from top position in 2003 to sixth. Vicenza comes top as regards social stability and Treviso sixth for settlement in the territory. Padova has lost ground, while Venice has improved considerably. The best performance for all the provinces, however, is for access to the labour market, where once again Treviso and Vicenza, highly industrial areas, perform best. (Table 16.3)
Starting a family
Foreign citizens are the newest residents in the region. They are integrated first of all through employment, but greater integration is obtained when they decide to start a family, to bring up children.
If we look at figures regarding demographics of foreign residents these illustrate the increasing social cohesion between old and new residents, the gradual attainment of stability: Besides the constant increase in numbers and the increasing integration of migrant workers into the labour market, the truly emerging phenomenon is family reunification with members left behind, but also the starting of new families where the migrants have settled. (Figure 16.7)
While the total number of marriages celebrated in the region has decreased in the last few years, the marriages with at least one foreign spouse has grown, reflecting the increasing integration. In 1998 marriages with at least one foreign spouse amounted to 7.1%, whereas in 2005 the figure was 19.3%, constantly above the national average. In just one year, since 2004, here has been a 1.6% increase. Interestingly, only slightly over a third of these unions involve two foreign spouses, while almost half involve an Italian groom with a foreign bride. (Table 16.4)
Having children
It is not just the number of marriages that has increased, but also the social stability of foreign residents. This is confirmed by their greater propensity to have children, and also a greater number of children. While birth rates have remained stable in the region, there is a high fertility rate in foreign women residents. Birth rates for 2006 in Veneto were 9 children of Italian nationality per 1000 residents, 24 children with foreign parents (Note 4). (Figure 16.8)
All in all, almost 58,000 children were born to foreign parents in Italy in 2006, that is 10.3% of all births. This share varies quite significantly from region to region: Veneto ranks second after Emilia Romagna with 17.3%. On a provincial level the highest percentages are found, once again, in Treviso and Vicenza with nearly 21%. (Figure 16.9)
Second Generation
Second generation immigrants, i.e. those who were born in Italy but are of foreign nationality, account for a considerable part of the foreign resident population (Note 5): If we consider all the foreign citizens born in Italy until 2006, Veneto has 14.1%, which is above the national average of 13.5%. The highest percentage is in Sicilia (15.3%), followed by Lombardia and Emilia Romagna with 14.5% and 14.4% respectively.
Since most migrants have arrived relatively recently it is reasonable to hypothesise that almost all of the second generation are under-18. (Figure 16.10)
These are the children of those who have truly settled, who go to school with Italian children, play in the same football teams. It is their successful integration as adults which is the real challenge to the inclusiveness and cohesion of our social system.
Integration at school
School is a child's first true contact with society, the chance to integrate into social organisations which could influence their upbringing. Quality and participation at school have always been considered key areas for social policies to focus on, particularly in recent decades as our society has witnessed rapid changes. The school system initially found if quite difficult to cope with the significant presence of immigrant children as it was not ready for it. New and more efficient measures had to be prepared for schools and teachers to help them deal with the cultural, relational and educational issues they faced with foreign pupils.
Looking at the great increase in foreign pupils enrolled in our schools it is clear how migration is becoming more stable and established in our region and also how the immigrant population is ready to invest in their children to assure them a better future. The number of foreign residents enrolled in upper secondary schools, which are not part of compulsory schooling, is testimony to this. In only four years the percentage of young foreign residents who attend upper secondary school has increased greatly. In Italy it increased from 1.5% of the whole school population in 2002/3 to 3.8% in 2006/7. In Veneto it has been more consistent, going up from 1.9% to 5.6%.
In the 2006/2007 school year there were over 500,000 foreign students in Italian schools, i.e 5.6% of the national school population. Schools in Veneto account for 12.3% of Italy's foreign students and 9% of the Veneto contingent. This is among the highest shares in Italy: Emilia Romagna ranks first with 10.7% of all students, followed by Umbria with 10.1%, Lombardia which hosts 9.2% and then Veneto comes fourth. (Figure 16.11)
The school sectors with the highest share are those of compulsory school, about 11% in the Veneto. The share in pre-school is also considerable, 9.1% of the local population, 4 percentage points more than four years earlier. These are foreign families who make the same choices as the local population: The increasing presence of foreign children in pre-school can also be seen as evidence of women seeking to enter the labour market. It is also due in part to second generation immigrants, that is children born in Italy to foreign-born parents who have been resident in Italy for some time and whose working lives and children's upbringing naturally are more similar to those of the local population. (Table 16.5)
Four of Veneto's provinces are among the fifteen Italian provinces with the highest share of non-Italian students, namely: Treviso (5th), Vicenza (7th), Verona (8th) and Padova (12th). Furthermore, Treviso and Vicenza are among the fifteen Italian provinces with the highest concentration of state schools with over 30% of non-Italian students. Verona also is among the provinces with the highest concentration of schools with at least 20% of non-Italian students.
The number of Romanian students in Italian schools has shown the highest growth. In 2006/07, with an increase of over 29% since the previous year, Romania is the second most represented nationality in Italian schools. The situation in Veneto is the same, with Romanians making up 12.6% of the total number of non-Italian students enrolled in school, second only to Moroccan students (15.5%).
Access to employment
The search for employment and better living conditions are the root cause of migration flows: In 2006, 63% of residence permits were granted for employment reasons, 85% in the case of the male population.
Data provided by employment centres show considerable growth in the employment of migrant workers in Veneto in recent years: From 73,000 recruited in 2000 to over 185,700 in 2007. This last figure is provisional since data from some centres is missing, yet it already reflects the significant impact of the enlargement of the European Union and the new laws which make it obbligatory to report the employment of domestic workers.
If we look at the evolution of migrants in the labour market up to 2006 we can see how recruitment has more than doubled, and the growth of the female component has a strong impact on this. In 2006 employment of migrant women was more than triple the figure for 2000, while for males it was slightly less than double. (Figure 16.12)
Distribution of employment by age has remained the same and is similar for both males and females. This is in line with the distribution for the resident population by age, the highest employment is for the age groups 20 to 29 years, and 30 to 39. (Figure 16.13)
In 2006 recruitment was high in the service sector (a quarter of new jobs), particularly women, 40% of whom show a preference for this sector, above all in hotels and restaurants area or domestic services. The second largest area for recruitment is that of metal engineering (16%), obviously mostly employing men. (Figure 16.14)
Distribution was in line with the nationality of foreign residents in Veneto, with nearly 16% recruitment of Romanian, 11.6% Moroccan and 7.1% Albanian nationals. Distinguishing by gender, many women from Eastern Europe were recruited: Over 42% of jobs went to Romanian, Moldavian, Ukrainian and Polish women, nationalities often employed as carers. Romanian women alone take on over 21% of all jobs in this sector.
Migrant entrepreneurship
The increasing integration of migrants in Veneto is revealed by the analysis of the business world. The number of migrant entrepreneurs has continued to grow in recent years, to such an extent that this phenomenon has become subject of several studies. Indeed an analysis of self-employment of migrant workers is fundamental for a full understanding of migrant employment. The data used for this analysis come from the registers of the Camere di Commercio (Chambers of Commerce) where the origin of entrepreneurs is indicated by country of birth, not nationality. This type of classification means that the group of foreign entrepreneurs also includes foreign-born Italian nationals. It also means that entrepreneurs born in countries that in past decades were destination for Italian emigration, such as Switzerland, whose presence in Veneto accounts for almost 10% of all active entrepreneurs and many of whom are children of Italian returnees. On the other hand, the group of Italian entrepreneurs includes foreign nationals born in Italy. However, considering that immigration to Italy has taken on significant proportions only in recent years, we can quite safely hypothesize that the number of adult second generation immigrants that have their own business is somewhat limited.
If we take into consideration only active companies, in 2007 there were nearly 461,000 foreign-born entrepreneurs, 9.7 of whom were active in Veneto, ranking the region third after Lombardia and Emilia Romagna. Foreigners account for 6% of the total number of entrepreneurs in Veneto, slightly above the national average. The regions with the highest share are Friuli Venezia Giulia with 8.3% and Toscana with 7.4%. (Figure 16.15)
The increase in the number of foreign entrepreneurs in the last three years in Veneto is considerable, +34.3% compared to 30.7% in Italy.
30% of migrant entrepreneurs have set up a business in the building sector, 25.3% in trade and 16% in manufacturing. (Figure 16.16)
This distribution varies according to the origin of the person and also to the socio-cultural background of certain ethnic groups, which has an effect on their propensity to set up certain types of businesses. For instance the building sector is preferred by 73.5% of Romanians, while 46.5% of the Chinese prefer manufacturing and 30.5% retail.
As regards the country of birth, most foreign-born entrepreneurs in the Veneto were born in Switzerland, closely followed by Chinese and Romanians, both above 9% of active entrepreneurs. (Figure 16.17)
These data indicate the changes taking place when it comes to migration and the process of integration. The setting up of a business by a migrant is seen to demonstrate his or her desire for a prestigious position in the world of work by leaving a subordinate job, as well as the ambition to achieve personal growth and affirm oneself in society.



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Notes

  1. Migrant integration policy index. The index is elaborated by an association of 25 organisations under the guidance of the British Council and the Migration Policy Group. The University of Sheffield and the Université Libre de Bruxelles act as research partners.
  2. By 'authorization for naturalisation' we understand, for example, naturalisations after ten years of stay, without interruption, in the host country or naturalisation granted to children who were born in Italy and automatically acquire citizenship if the parents fulfill specific requirements, i.e. a long-term stay and an adequate income.
  3. Consiglio Nazionale dell'Economia e del Lavoro - National Council for Economy and Labour.
  4. According to Italian law, only children born to at least one Italian parent can have Italian nationality (ius sanguinis).
  5. In 2006 municipal register offices counted the number of foreign residents, i.e. residents born in Italy to two foreign parents. The data is thus to be read as stock data. It refers to all registered foreign residents born in Italy until 2006, obviously not just those born in the year 2006.


Figure 16.1
Integration of migrants in Europe - Year 2006
Figure 16.2
Effectiveness of integration policies by type of policy. Score obtained per country - Year 2006
Figure 16.3
Share of foreign residents in Veneto by municipality - Year 2006
Table 16.1
Population of foreign residents in Veneto by province - Year 2006
Figure 16.4
List of top ten nationalities of foreign residents in Veneto - Year 2006
Figure 16.5
Resident population in Veneto by gender and age - Year 2006
Table 16.2
Percentage distribution of population resident in Veneto by age group. Total population and only foreign residents - Year 2006
Figure 16.6
Social integration - Year 2004
Table 16.3
Ranking of the seven provinces of Veneto in the national list regarding integration indices - Year 2004 and comparison with previous year
Figure 16.7
Percentage of marriages with at least one foreign spouse Veneto and Italy - Years 1998:2005
Table 16.4
Marriages by nationality of spouses. Veneto and Italy - Years 2000 and 2005
Figure 16.8
Birth rate for foreign and Italian residents in Veneto - Years 1993:2006
Figure 16.9
Children born to foreign parents as percentage of total births - Year 2006
Figure 16.10
Second generation: Children born to foreign parents in Italy as percentage of total foreign resident population by region - Stock data recorded in 2006
Figure 16.11
Foreign students as percentage of school population. Regional list of foreign students per 100 attending schoolchildren school years 2002/03 and 2006/7
Table 16.5
Foreign students as percentage of school population by type/level of school - school year 2006/07
Figure 16.12
Recruitment of migrants by gender Veneto - Years 2000-2007
Figure 16.13
Recruitment of migrants by gender and age group. Veneto - Year 2006
Figure 16.14
Percentage distribution of recruitment by gender and sector. Veneto - Year 2006
Figure 16.15
Foreign entrepreneurs in Italian regions - Year 2007
Figure 16.16
Foreign entrepreneurs working in Veneto by sector - Year 2007
Figure 16.17
Percentage distribution of foreign entrepreneurs active in Veneto by main nationalities - Year 2007
Chapter 16 in figures
Chapter 16 in figures

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Data elaborated by the Statistics office of the Veneto region are collective property; reproduction of this material is authorised for non-commercial purposes only, provided the source "Regione Veneto - Regional Statistics System Management" is acknowledged.