Since the beginning of the Russian invasion on 24 February, more than 173,000 Ukrainian citizens have arrived in Italy, mainly women, elderly people, and children, who have travelled by train and bus to various regions of Italy, in most cases joining relatives already working in Italy.
Before the start of the conflict, the Ukrainian community numbered around 230,000 people.
The monitoring of arrivals at the border is coordinated by the Ministry of the Interior, which registered a total of 173,920 arrivals between 3 March 2022 and 16 June 2023: 124,459 adults and 49,461 minors. Meanwhile, the number of entries has increased significantly, considering that the total number of new Ukrainian migrants applying for temporary protection as of 18 December 2023 was 184,611, of which 131,007 were women (71%), plus 61,202 minors.
The region with the highest percentage of Ukrainian citizens is Lombardy (18.39%), followed by Emilia-Romagna (11.94%) and Campania (10.39%).
Material assistance for migrants
Ukrainian citizens who have applied for a temporary protection permit can also apply for subsistence allowance. This is a financial allowance granted in monthly instalments of 300 euros for a maximum of three months from the date of receipt of the permit application. A total of 147,233 Ukrainians have been admitted, of whom 124,529, or 85%, are women.
According to the latest report of the Ministry of Labour, there were 4,755 unaccompanied Ukrainian foreign minors in Italy on 1 April, representing 24.2% of the total. 51% are girls (2,780). 51% are girls (2,426), representing 84.7% of the total number of unaccompanied foreign minors present in Italy.
The Ministry of Labour (General Directorate for Immigration and Integration Policies), taking into account the number of foreign citizens in need of protection, assistance and integration in Italy, launched the project “PUOI” (acronym for Protezione Unita a Obiettivo integrazione), which aims at the socio-labour integration of vulnerable immigrants who, due to the reasons that led them to flee and the traumas they have suffered, face greater obstacles in accessing the labour market. The beneficiaries include asylum seekers, beneficiaries of international or special protection and former unaccompanied minors (MSNA in Italian).
While in the initial phase of the emergency it was necessary to respond to basic needs, later on there was a growing need to promote pathways to integration, with the aim of including those who had become unemployed and homeless.
The Italian project involves public and private actors from the labour market, the reception network, and enterprises to create personalised pathways with guidance, work accompaniment and work experience. Each pathway will be financed by EU funds (including the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and the European Social Fund). Of the Ukrainian citizens, 86% are women. This is because men have stayed in Ukraine to defend their country, and martial law prevents them from leaving the country except in special cases.
The average profile of beneficiaries
In terms of age distribution, 80% of beneficiaries are aged 30 or over, with the 30-39 age group predominant.
In contrast, the 18-24 age group is under-represented.
The report also shows that 81% of Ukrainian citizens have at least upper secondary education and 41% have at least tertiary education (45% for women). It should be noted, however, that only 25% of Ukrainian diplomas are recognised in Italy. Among foreigners, the Ukrainian community is still the one with the highest proportion of university graduates, more than double that of the non-EU population as a whole: 22% compared to 10.5%.
Training projects
Another significant fact is that most of the Ukrainian beneficiaries, 72%, when they enrolled in the project found accommodation in private homes and not in host structures.
70% of the traineeships started (118 in total) were completed. The trainees were mainly placed in accommodation enterprises (24%), other service enterprises (20%) and commercial enterprises (10%). This was followed by placements in the manufacturing sector (7%), in enterprises or cooperatives in the health and social work sector (6%) or in the education sector (6%). Finally, 4% of Ukrainian beneficiaries did their placement in municipalities.
In addition, Italy allocated 31,133,046 euros to finance projects for linguistic insertion, socialisation, integration, and school continuity for schools (3,702 in total) hosting Ukrainian pupils.
According to the Ministry of Education, at the end of December 2002, 19,617 Ukrainian students were enrolled in Italy: 3,040 in kindergarten; 8,809 in primary school; 4,786 in secondary school; 2,982 in high school.
