The brain drain of some of Italy’s best university students from the South of Italy to institutions in the North of the country costs more than four billion euros each year, a report said Wednesday.

Every year, 134,000 students leave the South to choose universities in the Centre-North, said the Censis-Confcooperative focus “South, the great drain” report.

€157 million evaporates from the coffers of Southern universities each year, with the wider economic cost much larger, said the report.

In the Centre-Northern universities, the higher tuition fees (€2,066 compared to €1,173 in the South) generated €277 million in revenue.

Furthermore, in 2022, 23,000 graduates from the South chose the Central-Northern regions as their work destination.

In 2024, another 13,000 crossed national borders.

In total, 36,000 young graduates.