Italy's Directorate General for Immigration and Integration Policies - of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies - recently published a report on trends in the presence of unaccompanied foreign minors in the country in the first half of 2022. 

The war in and refugee flow from Ukraine led to a sharp increase in the number of unaccompanied minors arriving in Italy, which nearly doubled in comparison with the previous year. As of 30 June 2022 there are 15 595 unaccompanied minors in Italy (an increase of 99.9%). 

The report shows that these unaccompanied minors are mostly male (80.1%) and mostly 17 years old (44.8%). They arrived primarily from Ukraine (5 932), Egypt (2 497), Albania (1 302), Bangladesh (1 239) and Tunisia (1 145). The increase in minors fleeing Ukraine influenced the age and gender distribution of the group overall in comparison with previous years: there has been a decrease in the percentage of those aged 17 and an increase in that of those aged 15, as well as an increase in the number of girls (this number stands at 3 098 as of 30 June, accounting for 19.9% of the total number of unaccompanied minors in Italy). 

In terms of accommodation and reception, the Lombardy, Sicily, and Emilia-Romagna regions have so far received the highest numbers of unaccompanied minors (2 859 - 18.3%; 2 742 - 17.6%; 1 639 - 10.5%, respectively).

A report abstract in English can be accessed here.

In addition to the series of semi-annual monitoring reports to which this report belongs, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies issues monthly statistical reports which can be found here.