London, Buenos Aires, and São Paulo are, respectively, the cities with the largest number of Italians living outside Italy. This data comes from Istat, the official statistics institute, which updated the profile of the Italian community abroad in July 2025.
The survey considers the consular records of Air (registry of Italians residing outside the country) until December 2024. According to the data, the London consulate has almost 386 registered Italians. Next are Buenos Aires, with 335, and São Paulo, with 271 thousand.
The number is impressive: the number of Italians registered in São Paulo exceeds the population of several well-known cities in Italy itself. Verona, for example, has around 260 inhabitants, while Padua, also in Veneto, has just over 211.
Other cities with a strong Italian presence are Zurich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Cologne, Munich, Paris, Charleroi, Brussels, Madrid, Barcelona, Montevideo, Caracas and New York.
Italian community abroad grows 4% in one year
The Italian population abroad reached 6.382.000 at the end of 2024—a 4% increase over the previous year. More than half (54%) live in Europe. The Americas account for 40,9%, with the remainder distributed across Africa, Asia, and Oceania.
This growth is linked to the increase in acquisitions of Italian citizenship by descent, especially in Latin America. In 2024, more than 90 people obtained an Italian passport based on the principle of... jure sanguinis, mainly in Brazil and Argentina.
With this, Brazil surpassed Switzerland in the number of Italian residents and now occupies third place globally, with 671 registrations. Argentina leads with 987, followed by Germany with 847. Switzerland dropped to fourth place, with 654, and France ranks fifth, with 483.
Emigration and new births drive the numbers
The migration balance was largely positive: 156 left Italy, while only 53 returned, resulting in a gain of 103 Italians living abroad. The average age of emigrants was 32,8 years.
Furthermore, births exceeded deaths among Italians abroad: there were more than 27 new registrations, concentrated in Europe. The number of deaths was around 8.
Secondary migration and destination of new citizens
The phenomenon of secondary migration—when Italians already living abroad move to another country—has also grown. There were more than 49 moves in 2024. Spain received the largest share (27,4%), followed by the United States (10,6%).
Analysis of place of birth shows that only 30,8% of Italians living outside Italy were born in the country. In Latin American countries, this proportion is even lower: 10% in Argentina and 5% in Brazil. On the other hand, in countries like the United Kingdom, Austria, the United States, and Canada, the average number of native-born Italians exceeds 50%.
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