In the recently concluded academic year, approximately one in eight students (12.2%) in Italy did not hold Italian citizenship, a figure that has quadrupled over the past two decades. However, according to the latest available data, more than three out of five of these students (65.4%) were born in Italy. These findings are from the report “Chiamami col mio nome” (Call Me by My Name), an investigation into students with a migration background in Italian schools, published today by Save the Children.
Lombardy, with over 231,000 students—a quarter of the national total—records the highest number of such students, followed by the regions of Emilia-Romagna and Veneto. In terms of the percentage of the total student population, Emilia-Romagna leads (18.4%), followed by Lombardy (17.1%), Liguria (15.8%), Veneto (15.2%), and Tuscany (15.1%). At the other end of the spectrum, with less than 4% of students without Italian citizenship, are Molise, Puglia, Campania, and Sardinia.
The report also highlights significant performance gaps. Students with a migration background score lower than their native Italian peers on national Invalsi tests in Italian and mathematics but achieve higher scores in English. While the rate of “implicit dispersion”—a measure of educational setbacks—reaches 22.5% for first-generation students with a migration background (compared to 11.6% for native Italian students), this figure improves markedly for the second generation (10.4%). Despite this, more than a quarter of non-citizen students do not complete their upper secondary education.
These students also show higher rates of being behind in their schooling: 26.4% compared to 7.9% of their native Italian peers. Among first-generation students, more than one in six (17.8%) has repeated a school year, a situation affecting just over one in ten (11.5%) second-generation students and only 4.6% of Italian students.
The analysis further notes that Italy is among the OECD countries where students with a migration background have significantly lower expectations (-12 percentage points) than their native peers regarding university enrollment and completion. Only 3.9% of students enrolled in university are of foreign origin, with almost half of them concentrated in Lombardy, Lazio, and Piedmont (just over 35,000 students). Economic conditions and guidance are cited as key influencing factors.
This trend is also reflected in secondary school choices, with the report stating that “many students with a migration background favor educational paths that guarantee quicker access to the labor market, such as vocational or technical institutes.” While poverty is a driver, the report also points to potential negative biases influencing student choices.
ISTAT data cited in the report shows that even among minors who describe their economic situation as “good,” only 35.4% of first-generation students intend to enroll in an academic high school (liceo), compared to 43.7% of second-generation students. Furthermore, even among students who consider themselves “very good at school,” only 60.6% of the second generation and 47.8% of the first generation plan to attend a liceo, starkly contrasting with the 70% of students without a migration background. Overall, 53.7% of native Italian students choose the academic track, a difference of roughly twenty percentage points compared to students with a migration background.
The gap persists for high-achieving, socioeconomically disadvantaged students. Of the high-performing, disadvantaged first-generation students at the end of middle school in 2021/22, slightly less than half (48.7%) enrolled in a liceo the following year. This compares to 52.7% for second-generation students and 60.7% for students without a migration background.