What happens if the data relating to the percentage of European citizens with university degrees is cross-referenced with that of non-EU citizens with the same degree? It happens that a correlation does not emerge, that is, a country with more graduates does not necessarily attract more immigrants who have completed an academic path, but a serious problem emerges that concerns our country. L’Italy it is in fact the penultimate nation for both graduated citizens (il 24,5%, only the Romania, which, however, is the first nation for non-EU residents with university degrees) and for non-EU citizens with an equivalent qualification (the 13,4%, it only gets worse in Greece).
The data is updated to 2020Eurostat collected and disseminated them in recent days. On a general level, in theEuropean union the 36,7% of citizens among the 25 ed i 54 years old has a degree. The same can be said for the 29,6% of people born outside the EU and who now live in one of the member states. The nation with the highest percentage of people who have completed tertiary education (as the European Statistical Institute defines it) is Cipro, where 54.3% of citizens in the considered age group discussed a thesis. While, as mentioned, it is the Romania the nation with the highest percentage of non-EU graduates, representing the 72,8% of the total.
It should also be said that, again according to Eurostat, a Bucharest the residents who are not citizens of the Union are approx 76mil, that is, they represent the 0,4% of the resident population. In Italy, instead, they are the 5,9% of the resident population. In absolute numbers, 3.5 million of people, plus a further one and a half million EU citizens who immigrated to our country. It could therefore be thought that in a country with limited immigration, which is not seen as a land in which to seek fortune, it is more common for people with high qualifications who are not in homeland. As mentioned, in fact, Romania is the last European country for the percentage of graduates. And therefore that the Italian one is only a problem of numbers.
But it is enough to look beyond the Alps to be proved wrong. In France, where in absolute numbers the amount of non-EU residents is comparable to that of Italy, non-EU graduates represent the 37,2%, eight points above the continental average. In short, our country has not only a brain drain problem, Italian researchers who seek and very often find their fortune abroad. But it also has serious difficulties in intercepting brains that “flee” from other countries. And this too is a limit to our competitiveness.