The National association of Italian municipalities (ANCI) has said in a new report that in 2020, Italy's System of reception and integration (SAI) hosted 37,372 migrants, down from 39,686 in 2019 and a peak of 41,113 recorded the previous year.
Refugees, asylum seekers and all beneficiaries of Italy's System of reception and integration (SAI) are mainly young, male, single and sub-Saharan Africans who reached the country by sea, according to an annual report published on June 18 by the National association of Italian municipalities (ANCI).
The SAI hosting system has replaced a previous system known as SIPROIMI. In 2020, SAI hosted 37,372 migrants, down from 39,686 in 2019 and also down on the peak of 41,113 registered the previous year.
The data emerged from the annual report presented by ANCI ahead of World Refugee Day on June 20.
Project hosting data
In 2020, the National fund for asylum policies and services funded a total of 794 SAI projects (down 5.9% compared to the previous year).
Three in four projects were devoted to hosting people in the 'ordinary' category (602 projects, or 75.8%) and about one in five concerned unaccompanied foreign minors (148 projects, or 18.6%). The remaining quota concerned people with mental health and/or physical disabilities (44 projects, 5.5%).
The report noted that there were 679 local institutions in charge of a project, including 586 municipalities, 18 territorial units previously known as provinces, (or Unità territoriali sovracomunali), and 26 unions of municipalities or mountain communities, along with an additional 49 institutions.
All Italian regions and 103 out of a total of 107 provinces were represented. The majority of municipalities in charge of a project (62.7%) had less than 15,000 inhabitants, the report said.
In 2020, 383 organizations implemented SAI projects. They came mainly in the form of social enterprises (55.1%) and associations (18.5%).They were followed by public institutions (12.5%), religious institutions (3.9%) and groups of economic operators (3.7%).
Half of project sites concentrated in the south
Half of SAI's overall sites were in southern regions: mainly in Sicily, Puglia and Calabria. The system mainly used apartments (85%) rather than collective housing.
A reported 79.6% of guests were from sub-Saharan Africa (Nigeria, Gambia, Mali, Guinea, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Somalia). A reported 79.2% were men and 94,6% were under 40. About 42% were aged between 18 and 25, which was the most represented age group.
Overall, the migrants benefiting from the projects came from 102 different countries. During the course of 2020, 14,280 beneficiaries left the SAI reception system, mainly after completing the hosting program (49.4%) or because they chose to end their stay in the system early (45%).
The report noted that the data confirmed how "the approach SIPROIMI/SAI, even during a health and social emergency that strongly affected the year under examination, was able in good part to provide tools aimed at favoring the path towards autonomy for the beneficiaries." (Migrants in a hosting center in Brescia.PHOTO/ARCHIVE/ANSA/FILIPPO VENEZIA)