One out of three Italians, especially young people, would leave Italy in search of employment, according to a new study.
In its report on emigration, the socio-economic research group Eurispes said that more than half of the Italians who have moved abroad, 56%, are from southern Italy where the jobless rate is sharply above the national average.
Based on figures from the Interior Ministry from 2005, Eurispes found that 57.7% of Italian emigrants stayed in Europe, with 43% choosing another European Union country.
The most popular countries among would-be Italian emigrants were Spain, France and Britain, while Germany had the highest number of Italian immigrants followed respectively by Argentina, Switzerland and France.
This latest Eurispes report for the most part confirmed one it put out last month which showed that 37.8% of Italians would be willing to move abroad. Among these there were more women than men and more younger people.
Despite this readiness to go abroad in search of work, last month's report also found that more than 75% of Italians were happy to live in Italy and 67% consider themselves lucky to be here.
