African emigrants to Italy
African emigrants to Italy include Italian citizens and residents originally from Africa. Immigrants from Africa officially residing in Italy in 2015 numbered about 1,000,000 residents. Afro-Italians (Afroitaliani) are Italians born and are raised in Italy, citizen of African descent or of mixed African and Italian roots.
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 1,096,089 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Rome, Milan, Turin, Palermo, Bologna, Brescia, Bergamo, Florence | |
| Languages | |
| Italian, Afro-Asiatic languages, Niger–Congo languages, Nilo-Saharan languages | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Roman Catholicism, also Orthodox, Other Christians · Sunni Islam |
In 2014 over 170,000 migrants arrived which represented the biggest influx of people into one country in European Union history. A large percentage of them arrive via Africa.
African migrants specifically use Libyan coasts to travel across the Mediterranean Sea in large numbers, hoping to land on Italian shores. Although departing from Libya, most are from Ghana, Senegal, Nigeria and Eritrea. The route is dangerous and often unsuccessful; in 2015, 2,000 people died crossing the Mediterranean and the Libyan coast guard intercepted many of the boats transporting the migrants from Africa to Italy. As this route has gained more and more attention throughout the years, smugglers have started to use alternate routes such as Egypt, the Balkan route from Greece, and a very risky route from mountain passes in Albania.
In 2016, Italy's finance minister pushed for financial compensation from the European Union for his country's financial losses because of mass migration. As of 2016, the European Union had put forth 1.8 billion euros for the entirety of Africa's refugee efforts in Europe.