HALF A MILLION MORE FOREIGNERS IN ITALY IN 2009

HALF A MILLION MORE FOREIGNERS IN ITALY IN 2009

(ANSA) - Rome, November 20 - Nearly half a million of foreigners settled in Italy over the past year, according to a new report released Friday by national statistics bureau Istat.

The influx of 458,644 foreign residents brings the total number of immigrants in Italy to 3.8 million, amounting to 6.5% of the population.

According to Istat, 29% of foreign residents in Italy are citizens of other European Union countries, while immigrants from non-EU countries in eastern Europe account for 24%.

North Africans are the next largest group of foreigners living in Italy, amounting to 15% of the total.

The lion's share of Italy's immigrants live in the industrialized North (35%) and North East (27%), while a quarter have settled in central Italy, 9% in the South and under 4% on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia.