Estimates of the Illegal Foreigners in Italy: A Review of the Literature

Since the early 1980s, Italy has experienced increasing immigration from less-developed countries, despite having been a traditional emigration coun try. This steady immigration has altered the role of Italy in the international migration scenario. Italy has recorded a particularly significant number of illegal foreigners compared to traditional immigration countries in Europe (cf B?hning, 1991; Salt, Singleton, Hogart, 1994; Schoorl et al, 1996). Illegal foreigners represent an important share of total immigration, in both absolute and relative figures. The considerable number of illegal foreigners and the inadequacy of official surveys of legal foreigners induced many experts and some public bodies to consider how to measure and estimate the phenomenon. A number of problems should be given closer look. First, the fear of a "number schizophrenia" may lead to a leveling-off of research, overlooking important aspects concerning both the identification of causes and the as sessment of consequences of the phenomenon and the theoretical and em pirical analyses of the integration/exclusion of the immigrant community. Second is the risk that a part of the theory is based upon abstract consid erations or unreliable statistics.

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