Programme > By author > Gerardo Gallo

Starting with the economic and financial crisis in 2007–2008, youth mobility within the EU becomes an important issue both in scientific and public debate and it has captured the attention of the media never before the last few years.

The European Commission supported many scientific researches to understand the impact of youth mobility in terms of the supply of human capital, both in the regions of origin and in the destination countries. In this context YMOBILITY, which is an international project involving nine countries of European Union, represents the reference frame of this work.

This paper focuses on the stock of young Italians in the “traditional” destination countries of Europe by using data collected by the consular offices abroad in whose territorial jurisdictions they lie at the beginning of 2015.

After addressing the used data source, our analysis will be concentrated on 1.4 million of young Italians (15-34 years old) temporarily presents or usual residents abroad. This stock represents almost 50% of Italians abroad when we consider the most important receiving countries in Europe (Germany. UK, France, Switzerland and so on).

In terms of geographical distribution, we provide an overview of young Italians, carrying out a comparison between destination countries according to places of origin, gender, type of activities (study or work) and family relationship abroad.

By using binary logistic regression models, we will analyse the link between specific origin areas of Italy and the major destination countries in Europe, even considering the main characteristics and activities of young Italians.

The results of our study could be used by scientists and policymakers in dealing with the challenge of maximizing the advantages of mobility for individuals while minimizing costs in terms of social and economic sustainability.