Levels and determinants of sedentariness and internal mobility in Italy

Frank Heins, IRPPS-CNR

Italy is a country of low internal migration propensities and the contribution aims at assessing its levels, as well as the socio-demographic and socio-economic factors that affect the non-mobility and the internal mobility differentiated by categories of distance migrated. One of the objectives of the contribution is to overcome the traditional perspective focusing on the migration flows between the Mezzogiorno and the North-Centre. The population census is a unique source of statistical information to analyse internal migration, from intra-municipal changes of residence to long-distance moves. Detailed information is available for the individual, for the family and for the geographic context. The concepts used in the Italian census (place where the person lived 1 year and 5 years before the census date) are analysed and discussed. Descriptive methods are combined with multivariate analysis. The contribution combines a micro and a macro perspective on internal migration linking the individual level socio-demographic and socio-economic factors of internal mobility to the conditions of the family and housing, as well as the socio-economic characteristics of the Local Labour Market Areas. Because of the low levels of internal migration the consequences of the ensuing selection processes at the local and regional level are limited. The contribution focuses on the selection process regarding the level of educational attainment. Selected aspects of the Italian internal mobility in 2011 will be compared to the situation in 2001 and to the characteristics in some selected European countries to show (and to explain) the relative low overall internal mobility in Italy. The high propensity to sedentariness of the Italian population, in fact the foreign population in Italy shows much higher levels of mobility, is partly due to the role of the familistic values that play also a predominant role regarding late nest leaving.