Italy is experiencing a demographic crisis. The country's population is aging and shrinking, so an influx of migrants is needed to support the economy and the social safety net. We are talking about quite a weighty number of people.

According to a study by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), Italy's population will drop from 60.4 million in 2023 to 54.9 million by 2050. The median age is expected to increase from 47.3 to 52.7 years during the same period. This is, by the way, the highest average age in Europe.

In addition, Italy has a relatively low fertility rate. The current fertility rate is 1.26 children per woman, well below the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman. This means that Italy's population is declining naturally, even without taking migration into account.

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According to the IDOS Research Center, Italy will need more than 280,000 new migrants over the next 27 years to fill the projected deficit in the working-age population. This deficit is expected to amount to 7.8 million people.

Note that Italy has also been criticized for its restrictive immigration policies. The closure of borders to migrants over the past 12 years, among other things, has contributed to the current labor market deficit.

At the moment, the Italian government, aware of the problem, has approved a new program for the legal entry of foreign workers from 2023 to 2025. This is the first such program in 18 years. Italy is expected to admit 452,000 foreign workers during this time, with the majority of them—136,000—admitted by the end of 2023. This number could rise further, reaching 151,000 in 2024 and 165,000 in 2025.

It is equally important to ensure decent working and living conditions for foreign workers in order to make Italy more attractive to talented professionals from all over the world.