Exploring the Settlement Models of the Main Foreign Communities Residing in Italy (2003–2021)

Abstract

In the last few decades, the foreign resident population in Italy has grown considerably, showing a tendency towards a stable settlement. The spatial distribution of this population is an important key to better understanding the integration process in the host society. This paper aims to explore the diachronic evolution of the settlement models of the foreign population and the main ethnic groups usually classified as residents in Italy in the period 2003–2021. Towards this aim, we computed statistical global indices referring to evenness, concentration, and clustering dimension of residential segregation and ad hoc indices that regard territorial dimensions. One of the major novelties of the contribution lies in the attempt to compute these indices not only in reference to the major population group—i.e., the Italians—but also between foreign communities and considering the gender structure. The indices are then synthesised by a multivariate analysis (principal component analysis and cluster analysis). The results of this study show that (a) higher differences in terms of settlement models are found by comparing different minority groups rather than by comparing minorities to Italians; (b) the settlement models of each foreign citizenship remain almost stable over time despite their growth in both absolute and relative terms.