Rome, 9 Oct. (AKI) - A total 30,000 illegal immigrants have entered Italy so far this year, the country's Interior Minister, Roberto Maroni told the Parliament on Thursday, adding that migration has risen "exponentially".

The Government has allocated seven million euros for the construction of new reception centres for illegal immigrants and over 109 million euros to run these centres, said Maroni (photo).

On top of these sums, the Government has earmarked 747,000 euros to handle the arrival of illegal immigrants at Italy's borders, he said.

Eight million euros have been allocated in 2008 and 32.5 million euros in 2009 and 2010 to accommodate asylum-seekers and refugees, Maroni stated.

Migration to Italy has risen "exponentially" from 500,000 people in 1987 to almost 3.5 million this year, Maroni noted.

He was speaking the same day that Italy's central statistics agency ISTAT released data showing a record 3,432,651 foreigners were resident in Italy on 1 January this year, an increase of 16.8 percent over 2007.

Most immigrants (62.5 percent) live in the north, a quarter in central Italy and 12.5 percent in the south, according to Istat.

Almost half of Italy's foreign residents are from eastern European countries, with Romanians forming the most rapidly growing community, especially in Italy's southern regions.

There were 625,000 Romanian citizens resident in Italy on 1 January this year, an 82.7 percent increase compared with 2007, when Romania joined the European Union.