Families in Italy are increasing but they are getting smaller and smaller: as of 31 December 2019, 99.4% of the resident population in Italy (59,641,488 individuals) lives in the family, while 382,067 are the people who live in welfare institutions, hospices, health care institutions and other collective residences. It emerges from the permanent population census: Istat families in Italy, referring to the years 2018 and 2019.
Compared to the 2011 Census, in line with the trend in recent decades, households increased by 1,239,356 units (+ 5%), going from 24,611,766 to 25,851,122; considering the last 50 years, the increase is almost 10 million (15,981,177 in 1971). The average number of components dropped from 3.35 in 1971 to 2.29.
Single-member households are growing, amounting to 9,073,852 in 2019, 35.1% of the total against 12.9% in 1971. In other words, about 15% of people usually residing in Italy live alone. This is what emerges from the Population Census released by Istat and relating to the years 2018-2019. The growth of single-member households is accompanied by a decrease in the larger ones. In 1971 the families made up of 5 members or more were 3,437,440 and represented 21.5% of the total number of resident families. In 2019 there were only 1,318,804 and they constitute just over 5% of the families surveyed.
The Istat census reveals that more than half of all foreign-only families reside in the North: families with at least one foreign component surveyed in 2019, in fact, amounted to 2,416,717. 32.6% are made up of single-member families, 19.5% have two members, 18% have three while 29.9% have four or more. In 57% of cases they reside in Northern Italy, particularly in the North-West, in 25% they live in central Italy while 13% and 5% are based respectively in the South and in the Islands. Single-member households represent the majority share in the Center (35.2%), in the South (36.1%) and in the Islands (38.7%).
In the North, on the other hand, families with at least four members prevail, probably as a result of a more rooted presence of the foreign component which, through family reunification and the birth of children, expresses an evident desire for stabilization in the territory. The average number of family members, for the total of Italy, is 2.68 and varies between 2.82 in the North-East and 2.45 in the Islands.
The families with all foreign members surveyed in 2019 are 1,707,338 and represent 70.6% of families with at least one foreign component, with whom they share the same territorial distribution: over half reside in the North, a quarter in Central Italy and just over 18% between the South and the Islands. The average number of members is 2.30 for the total of Italy, therefore lower than that recorded for families with at least one foreign member.
Even among families with all foreign members, the relatively most common type of family is single-membered, 46.2% of the total, compared with 23.1% for larger families. The situation changes for families with at least one foreign member, among which single-member companies represent about a third of the total (32.6%), a share very close to that recorded for families with four or more members (29.9%) .
Approximately 23% of families with all foreign members surveyed in 2019 reside in the top 10 large municipalities with the highest foreign presence. 31.1% of these are single-member families, while one fifth are those with two members, another fifth are those with two members. with three and 17% families with four or more. The municipalities of Rome and Milan welcome a total of 13.4% of the families with foreigners surveyed but they represent 60% of those residing in the top 10 large municipalities with a greater foreign presence. In the municipality of Rome 10.3% of the single-member foreign families surveyed in Italy live, in Milan 9.2%.