Vitali G., Filippi M., Manello A., Working Paper Cnr-Ceris, N° 14/2012

Table 1: Population and foreign firms in Italy
POPULATION

MICRO FIRMS

% composition % growth rate
Country

2004

2009

2004

2009

(2009/2004)

% composition % growth rate
2004

2009

2004

2009

(2009/2004)

Albania

316659 466684

14.1% 11.5%

47%

11164 20056 9.9% 12.5%

80%

Bangladesh

35785

73965

1.6%

1.8%

107%

1844

3423

1.6%

2.1%

86%

Brazil

25823

44067

1.1%

1.1%

71%

2117

2748

1.9%

1.7%

30%

China

166327 294630

7.4%

7.3%

77%

17051 28127 15.1% 17.5%

65%

Egypt

52865

82064

2.3%

2.0%

55%

4335

5478

3.8%

3.4%

26%

Former Yugoslavia 162164 206383

7.2%

5.1%

27%

7610

8614

6.7%

5.4%

13%

Morocco

294945 431529

13.1% 10.6%

46%

12257 13564 10.8% 8.5%

11%

Nigeria

31647

48674

1.4%

1.2%

54%

1509

1541

1.3%

1.0%

2%

Pakistan

35509

64859

1.6%

1.6%

83%

1689

2193

1.5%

1.4%

30%

Poland

50794

105608

2.3%

2.6%

108%

1612

2629

1.4%

1.6%

63%

Romania

248849 887763

11.1% 21.9%

257%

9013 20728 8.0% 12.9%

130%

Russia

156837 325089

7.0%

8.0%

107%

2230

5500

2.0%

3.4%

147%

Senegal

53941

72618

2.4%

1.8%

35%

2959

2347

2.6%

1.5%

-21%

Tunisia

78230

103678

3.5%

2.6%

33%

4403

4148

3.9%

2.6%

-6%

Venezuela

4579

5580

0.2%

0.1%

22%

3214

3337

2.8%

2.1%

4%

1714954 3213191 76.2% 79.3%

87%

83007 124433 73.3% 78.5%

50%

Sub-total
Eastern Europe

27331

83812

1.2%

2.1%

207%

1488

2290

1.3%

1.4%

54%

Africa

130127 193230

5.8%

4.8%

48%

6507

6337

5.7%

3.9%

-3%

Asia

175803 265297

7.8%

6.5%

51%

6801

7712

6.0%

4.8%

13%

Latin America

183120 275270

8.1%

6.8%

50%

9139 11001 8.1%

6.9%

20%

Others

19571

0.9%

0.5%

11%

6316

4.1%

5%

Total

21698

2250906 4052498 100.0% 100.0%

Maps 1 and 2 show that there is a link between
unemployment rate and foreign population: the
lower is the unemployment rate, the higher is the
foreign population rate (in comparison with Italian
population). On the contrary, map 3 shows that the
entrepreneurial rate is quite homogeneous among the
provinces.
If we consider big geographical areas (table 2), the
ratio between micro firms and foreign population is
quite homogeneous, as it is about 4% everywhere: it
is just a bit higher in the Centre (4.2) and in the
South (4.1%) of Italy, and a bit lower in the NorthEast (3.6%) and North-West (3.9). On the contrary,
if we consider the Italian regions or the Italian
provinces, the rates are very different, as there is a
ethnic effect. Some ethnic have a rate of
8

80%

6652

5.6%

113258 160434 100.0% 100.0%

42%

entrepreneurship that is higher than other ethnic, and
the province composition of ethnic immigrants
affects the average entrepreneurial rate of the
province. In some provinces, the entrepreneurial rate
is very low (1.6% at Matera), whereas in others it is
very high (12,1% at Prato). This difference could be
done by the difference in the ethnic entrepreneurial
rate: Chinese (9.5%), Egyptian (6.7%) and
Brazilians (6.2%) are above the average rate (3.9),
whereas Russians, Romanians and Polish are under
the average (table 3).
On average,
immigrants
have
a
lower
entrepreneurial rate than local Italian population, 4%
in comparison with 5%, but it is the opposite in
some provinces (table 4).