All things you need to know about living in Sardegna
Across Sardegna's 8 provinces, ISTAT counts 1,442 Germans: 0.09% of the region's 1,562,381 residents.
ISTAT counts 54,091 residents with a foreign citizenship in Sardegna, 3.46% of the population. The largest groups among the nationalities we follow most closely are Germans (1,442), French nationals (873), Russians (832).
Over the period 2019–2025, the number of Germans in Sardegna has risen, from 1,320 to 1,442 (+9%).
Separately, ISTAT's census data shows 5.2% of Sardegna's population was born outside Italy: 3.2% outside the EU and 2.0% elsewhere in the EU. This broad-group split isn't comparable per-nationality to the citizenship figures above. See about the data.
By nationality
| Nationality | Citizens | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Romania | 10,931 | 0.70% |
| Ukraine | 3,186 | 0.20% |
| Germany | 1,442 | 0.09% |
| Poland | 1,098 | 0.07% |
| France | 873 | 0.06% |
| Russia | 832 | 0.05% |
| Albania | 811 | 0.05% |
| Brazil | 731 | 0.05% |
| United Kingdom | 685 | 0.04% |
| Spain | 639 | 0.04% |
| Argentina | 546 | 0.03% |
| Hungary | 365 | 0.02% |
| Switzerland | 291 | 0.02% |
| Netherlands | 269 | 0.02% |
| Belgium | 256 | 0.02% |
| United States | 254 | 0.02% |
| Slovakia | 243 | 0.02% |
| Czechia | 213 | 0.01% |
| Lithuania | 175 | 0.01% |
| Venezuela | 169 | 0.01% |
| Bulgaria | 147 | 0.01% |
| Latvia | 123 | 0.01% |
| Portugal | 121 | 0.01% |
| Austria | 112 | 0.01% |
| Ireland | 94 | 0.01% |
| Greece | 89 | 0.01% |
| Mexico | 86 | 0.01% |
| Croatia | 70 | 0.00% |
| Sweden | 62 | 0.00% |
| Canada | 52 | 0.00% |
| Japan | 44 | 0.00% |
| Estonia | 40 | 0.00% |
| Australia | 35 | 0.00% |
| Denmark | 32 | 0.00% |
| Finland | 23 | 0.00% |
| Norway | 22 | 0.00% |
| South Korea | 14 | 0.00% |
| Cyprus | 12 | 0.00% |
| Slovenia | 9 | 0.00% |
| Malta | 8 | 0.00% |
| Luxembourg | 6 | 0.00% |
Country of birth
| Group | Residents | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Born in Italy | 1,481,875 | 94.85% |
| Born elsewhere in the EU | 31,157 | 1.99% |
| Born outside the EU | 49,349 | 3.16% |
Germans over time
Provinces by Germans share
- Gallura Nord-Est Sardegna0.24%
- Nuoro0.12%
- Ogliastra0.11%
- Cagliari0.08%
- Sulcis Iglesiente0.07%
- Oristano0.07%
- Sassari0.06%
- Medio Campidano0.02%
Tax regimes
370 of Sardegna’s 377 comuni qualify for the 7% pensioner regime — 98% of the region’s towns, but 68% of the people who live in it.
The two differ because the regime caps comune size: the towns it excludes are the biggest ones. Where you’d actually be living matters more than how many towns are on the list.
Which towns, and how the 7% pensioner regime works →Seismic zones of its comuni
A region has no seismic zone of its own: each of its comuni has one. Here is how the 377 comuni of Sardegna are classified.
- Zone 1 (highest hazard)0
- Zone 20
- Zone 30
- Zone 4 (lowest hazard)377
Counts are comuni, not residents or land area. The zone is the legal classification each Region gave its comuni, not a forecast and not a verdict on any building. It has nothing to do with the 7% pensioner regime’s “seismic” routes, which depend on the 2009 and 2016–17 earthquake areas, not on a comune’s zone. See the map →