ANOTHER YEAR AND SOME SHOCKING STATISTICS

Image: Wikimedia Commons via ECB

Statistics released today by Istat, the Italian National Statistics Office, show that 24.5% of Italians were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2010, a figure not much different from that for 2009. As usual, the situation is worse in the South, where 12.9% of families are suffering some form of deprivation, a figure which is double that for Central Italy and three times that for the North.  Family income is a stunning 25% lower in the South than in the rest of Italy whilst the percentage of Italian families in which the 18-59-year-olds work for less than one fifth of the year stands at 10.2, an increase of 1.4% as compared to 2009.

In 2010 16% of families were finding it impossible to manage on their monthly income and 8.9% had utility bill arrears. The number who had rent or mortgage arrears stands at 11.2%.  A worrying 31.3% of families had found themselves without the means to purchase necessary clothing during 2010 and 6.3% had been unable to purchase the food they needed at some point in the year. Also worryingly, 18.1% of families had experienced difficulty in paying medical expenses: Italy of course has a free health service but hospital appointments and tests carry a nominal charge for all but the poorest and there are prescription and some other charges.  The statistics also show that 11.5% of families had been unable to heat their homes adequately and you may be surprised to learn that most of these live in the South:  winter nights can be harsh here but the figures may also reflect the fact that families in the South are more likely to have elderly relatives living with them.

Sadly, it is Italy's young people who are most at risk of poverty and deprivation and again the figure is higher for the South.

Another year and another set of statistics, yes;  but behind each of these statistics there are human beings and stories of real suffering.  It is my earnest hope that politicians do not forget this and that everyone has a more prosperous 2012.

SOME INTERESTING STATISTICS

The Italian National Statistics Office, Istat, has published Noi Italia, a collection of one hundred up to date statistics which will help Italians and others to understand the country and I must say, some of these make very interesting reading:

With a population of 60,600,000, Italy saw a fall in both the number of births and deaths on its territory  last year, with the greater decrease being in the number of births, at an average of 1.4 children per woman.  The slight recovery in the birth rate seems to have ended and the number of people over 65 is now equivalent to 20.3% of the population. This year 2.8% of the population are over 85 and the number of centenarians has tripled since 2001, to 16,000.

Life expectancy in Italy is the third highest in Europe, with only Sweden and Spain doing better.  The national average is 79.1 years for men and 84.3 years for women.  There are some interesting regional variations, with men in the Marche living the longest [79.8 years] whilst the most long-lived women are those resident in Trento-Alto Adige [85.3 years].  The lowest life expectancy for both sexes is in the Campania region [77.5 years for men and 82.8 years for women] whilst the gap between male and female life expectancy is narrowest here in Sicily [77.5 years for men and 82.8 years for women]. 

The number of foreigners living in Italy is estimated at 4,563,000, an increase of 328,000 on the January 2009 figure.  Of these, Romanians comprise the largest community of 890,000 with Albanians, numbering 467,000,  comprising the second and the country's 432,000 Moroccans the third.  The Chinese form the largest Asiatic population within Italy  and Ukrainians form the fifth largest community.  Foreigners from other EU countries number 1.2 million. 

The regions of Emilia-Romagna, Umbria, Lombardy and Veneto have the highest numbers of foreign residents while the South as a whole has fewer.  Sardinia, where foreigners make up only 2% of the population, has the fewest.  

Shown as a percentage of the population as a whole, the number of foreign residents in Italy, at 6.5%, is strikingly similar to the UK total, at 6.6%.  Does this perhaps tell us something about the desirability of living in both countries?