Over 23,000 unaccompanied foreign minors are currently in the reception system in Italy, the highest number recorded in the last ten years. This data peaked in 2023, mainly due to a considerable increase––compared to 2022––in the number of Ukrainian minors fleeing the Russian-Ukrainian conflict as well as minors from North Africa, in particular Egyptians and Tunisians.
Unaccompanied minors in the reception system are mostly male (88% as of September), accounting for an average of 95% of minors in the 2013-2021 period. On the other hand, the female component increased between 2022 and 2023 due to the arrival of young Ukrainian girls (15% of the total in 2022 and 12% in 2023)
Reception of unaccompanied minors has long been carried out mainly in Sicily––a region that has hosted at least a fifth of the minors in Italy over the past ten years with peaks of 44% in 2014 and 2017. As of 30th September 2023, a quarter of the minors were being hosted in Sicilian reception centres.
As of September 2023, approximately 2,000 unaccompanied foreign minors had left the reception system. Almost half of these cases (48.4%) were the result of their voluntary departure and 46% of the cases (910 minors) were due to minors’ coming of age. The remaining 6% of departures were related to other reasons (e.g., fostering, reunification with a parent or a guardian, assisted voluntary return and relocation).
