The dual demographic profile of migrants in Tuscany

While migration from less developed countries (LDCs) has been well studied, migration from more developed countries (MDCs) has been virtually ignored, both in field research and in theoretical investigation. This chapter addresses this shortcoming by analyzing the destination choices of foreigners from both areas of the world residing in Tuscany, a region in Centre Italy. A foreigner is defined as a person who does not have Italian citizenship and the MDC and LDC aggregations are the same as those used by the Italian National Statistical Institute (ISTAT, 2007). The LDC group represents Central and Eastern Europe (including the new European members, after May 2004), Africa, Asia (with the exception of Israel and Japan) and Central and South America. By extension, stateless and displaced people have been included in this component. All other countries are included in the MDC group. Based on demographic analyses of foreigners from LDCs and MDCs in Tuscany, we demonstrate the dual demographic profile of migration and provide some challenges to the common notion of migration to more developed areas of the world. © 2010 VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften | GWV Fachverlage GmbH, Wiesbaden.