An Italian ambassador in the 1990s believed that the wide practice of concubinage during the colonial years had created a kind of "ethnic community" with nearly 50,000 Somalis who had at least one grandfather or a great-grandfather Italian-born. It is a situation similar to the one documented in former Italian Eritrea. There are about 15,500 direct descendants of Italians colonists & military in Eritrea, because of concubinage (in Italian) However, in the 2010s the Somalis who declare they have Italian ancestors are only a few thousands, concentrated mainly in Mogadishu and surroundings.
