Sicily leads AIRE: 6 regions account for 3.7 million abroad

Sicily has confirmed itself as the Italian region with the largest number of emigrants registered abroad, according to a survey by Istat (Istituto Nazionale di Statistica) released by Italianismo. Six regions account for nearly 58% of all Italians registered in AIRE, the official registry that tracks who lives outside Italy.

What is AIRE and why it matters

The AIRE (Anagrafe degli Italiani Residenti all'Estero) is the administrative register that brings together all Italian citizens who establish residency outside the national territory. It is from this registry that Istat produces its annual statistics on the Italian diaspora around the world, serving as a barometer to understand how and where Italians have emigrated over the decades.

According to Italianismo, the most recent data reference January 1, 2025 and point to 6,420,678 people registered in AIRE at that moment. The number includes both Italians born on the peninsula and descendants who obtained recognition of citizenship and registered abroad — a detail that, as will be seen below, changes how these data are read.

Ranking of the six leading regions

According to the survey, Sicily leads the regional ranking outright, with 842,107 registrations, equivalent to 13.1% of the entire contingent registered in AIRE. Closely behind are Lombardy, Veneto, Campania, Lazio and Calabria, completing the list of the six regions with the largest presence of residents outside Italy.

Together, these six regions account for 3,721,848 registrations, roughly 58% of the national total registered in the registry. The result confirms a historical pattern: regions of the South and islands, traditionally marked by mass emigration throughout the 20th century, continue to rank among those with the most citizens living outside Italy, alongside northern regions with strong migratory traditions, such as Veneto.

South and islands concentrate nearly half of the diaspora

Also according to Italianismo, the Mezzogiorno — as the region consisting of Southern Italy and the islands of Sicily and Sardegna is called — accounts for 45% of all those registered in AIRE. The data reinforces the historical weight of this region in the major migration flows that took millions of Italians to the Americas between the late 19th and mid-20th centuries.

The geographic distribution of emigrants, however, is not uniform. The report indicates that Sicily concentrates a relevant portion of its registrations in European Union countries, reflecting more recent migratory flows within the continent. Meanwhile, Veneto and Lazio show more significant presence in Central and South America, linked to older migration waves, particularly toward Brazil, Argentina and other Latin American countries.

Relevance for descendants in Brazil

For the Brazilian audience descended from Italians, AIRE numbers function as an indirect portrait of their own family roots. Many Brazilians with ancestry in Calabria, Campania, Veneto and Sicily — precisely some of the regions that rank highest — may have relatives or family branches reflected in these statistics, since the registry brings together both original emigrants and their descendants who regularized their situation with Italian authorities.

The data also reinforces the relevance of these regions in processes of searching for Italian citizenship and recognition of ancestry, a recurring theme among Brazilian families seeking to document their Italian lineage. Those on this journey typically need to resort to searching for certificates in Italy to locate birth, marriage and death records in the comuni of origin — a fundamental step to gather the documentation required in any recognition process.

A methodological note

Italianismo highlights an important point for correct interpretation of the numbers: the AIRE regional ranking reflects the last region of residence of the emigrant before leaving Italy, not necessarily their birthplace. This means that someone born in one region may appear in the registry linked to another, if they resided there before emigrating.

Even more relevant: according to end-of-2024 data cited in the report, only 30.3% of those registered in AIRE were actually born in Italy. The vast majority of the registry is made up of descendants who obtained recognition of Italian citizenship abroad and registered with the consulates, never having been born or lived on the peninsula. The data shows how the Italian diaspora perpetuates itself across generations, far beyond the original migration movement.

Istat's numbers confirm that Italy's relationship with its citizens abroad is today shaped both by the history of mass emigration and by the more recent phenomenon of ancestry recognition, which continues to attract millions of people around the world — Brazil included — in search of their roots. To follow other developments on this topic, the Raízes Italianas portal maintains permanent coverage in its sections on News from Italy and Life in Italy.

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Source: Italianismo