The foreign population resident in Catania will grow by around half a thousand people – with a positive trend of 4% – between 2022 and 2023, going from 13,816 to 14,359 units, which are worth just under 5% of the total resident population. These are the Istat data that were commented on this morning in Catania during the presentation of the Caritas Migrantes 2023 report ‘Free to choose whether to migrate or remain in the presence of the Vicar General of the Archdiocese Monsignor Salvatore Genchi, of the director of Caritas Catania Don Nuccio Puglisi and of the director Migrantes Catania don Carlo Palazzolo, who introduced the works, with the moderation of the journalist Antonio Leo, before the report by Simone Varisco, curator of the Caritas-Migrantes Report.
The data shows the growth of the resident foreign population, even if the incidence in the Etna capital municipality on the total residents (4.8%), although higher than that of Sicily (around 4%), is still lower than the national one ( 8.6%). Catania confirms itself as the first Sicilian province for the number of foreign residents, equal to 36,357, followed by Palermo (35,336) and Ragusa (33,638). The Etna figure is worth 18% of the total residents at Sicilian level – equal to just over 200 thousand – and in the province the first municipality of reference is Catania with 14,359 registered foreign residents, the second municipality on the island after Palermo with 25,019. The first community of the Etna municipality comes from Sri Lanka (2,540), followed by Romania (1,908), and Bangladesh (1,318). Then Mauritius (972), Senegal (929) and China (915). “The common interest in charity, which this year too is enriched by the precious contribution of the Pastoral Office for Migrants – explains Don Puglisi – cannot fail to take into consideration, in addition to the urgency of helping these brothers of ours as best as possible, a necessary focus on the tools and resources that can help us support this commitment, always remembering that behind every migrant there is always a man or a woman, a child, a drama, a story.”
