Why do they move? Characteristics and determinants of internal mobility in Italy

Italy registered 1,313,176 changes of residence in 2014, +18.3% compared to 1995. This increasing pattern is partially attributed to immigrants, as their gross rate of mobility among provinces doubled from 0.8% in 2002 to 1.6% in 2014. However, the differential characteristics of internal migrants in respect to the majority group may be due on compositional factors such as socio-economic, household and demographic characteristics. The main aim of this paper is to contribute to the current knowledge on internal mobility in Italy and to analyse the main characteristics of medium- and long-distance flows. We both use the Italian population registers and the Labour Force Survey conducted in 2014. Our results show that the northern and central areas continue to be the most dynamic ones in term of residential mobility and that selection hypothesis operates in the Italian geographical re-distribution of population. Migrants show social and employment mobility. The age profile of mobility presents a ∩-shape trend that peaks at 25-34 years old. Cohabitation affects positively the residence's changes while parenthood shows the opposite. The increased presence of immigrants in the Italian redistribution phenomenon is mainly due to a persisting large part of adults that arrived and moved within the Italian context for working reasons