Statistics

Data and statistical information on the phenomenon of Italian emigration from 1876 to the present.

In Italy, the state's statistical survey of emigration began in 1876: since then, and over the course of a century, 26 million Italians, mostly male and of working age, have gone abroad. About a third of them have returned.

More than 10 million left from the South and Islands, 5 million from the Center, 5.5 million from the Northeast, and 5 million from the Northwest. Predominantly: Venetians, Campani, Sicilians, Lombardi, Piedmontese, and Calabrians. The countries that received the largest number were: United States of America (about 6 million), France (4.5 million), Germany (2.5 million), Brazil (1.5 million) and Canada (more than half a million).

Tuscany, considering statistics on a 10-year basis, had the largest number of emigrants in the period 1906-1915, with about 330,000 departures, and the figure was up from 1876-1885 years when about 85,000 people had emigrated

Disaggregating the data shows that the greatest number of departures came from the Lucca area even though what is now the territory of the Province of Lucca was divided until 1923, between Lucca and Massa.