29,000 Italian graduates left in 2018.

Italian graduates leaving the Bel Paese are growing: + 6% compared to 2017, i.e. more than 29,000.

According to the data on immigration reported by ISTAT, the Italian Institute of Statistics, the cancellations of personal data (= those who have been removed from the registers of an Italian municipality) bound abroad, were 157,000 in 2018: Of these, almost three out of four are Italian nationals (117 thousand, +1.9%). The remaining are foreign immigrants who have returned to their country of origin.

What worries more is the qualification of those who decide to move abroad: in 2018, 53% of those who left are in possession of a medium-high degree. Over 33 thousand possess a high school diploma, and 29,000 a university degree.

Compared to 2019, both categories increased (respectively by +1% and +6%). This continuous haemorrhage is not contrasted by the very slight increase of international students who obtain the degree in Italy and that, after graduation, decide to build their career in our country.

Apart from the economic damage (it is the Italian taxpayer who bears most of the costs to facilitate the studies of young Italians in Italian universities), it certainly a blow to the soft power of the Peninsula itself.

 

Check out the ISTAT document here.