SICILY HAS WORST YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

Italy, according to figures released by the small business association Confartigianato, has the highest youth unemployment rate in Europe with 1,138,000 unemployed under the age of 25.  Of these, young adults under the age of 24 are the worst affected, with 29.6% being unemployed as compared with a European average of 21%.

Sicily is the largest and worst affected of the Italian regions, with 28% of adults under 35 being unemployed.  This compares with a national average of 15.9%. In Southern Italy as a whole 538,000 young people are unemployed. The rate in Campania is 27.6%, in Basilicata it is 26.7% and the rate in Sardinia is 25.2%.  Things are very different in the North, the rate in Trentino-Alto Adige being 5.7% and that in Lombardy being 9.3%.  The rate in the country's smallest region, the Valle d'Aosta, is 7.8%.

I feel sorry for young people in Sicily, who, as I've written  here, do not go around burning the businesses of people who might one day have employed them, loot shops or terrorise the good citizens of their cities.

The unemployment rate for adults in Italy is 23.2%.

THE EATING HABITS OF YOUNG SICILIANS

An interesting Demopolis poll regarding the eating habits of Sicilian students aged 13-19 was published in La Sicilia today:

Most main meals consumed by this age group are eaten at home but 25% of those interviewed admitted to skipping breakfast. 69% of those who do eat breakfast said that they take less than 5 minutes over it [which to me is unsurprising as the meal only consists of a biscuit or croissant with a coffee here for adults, whilst children might need only a minute longer to smear the biscuit or a piece of bread with the ubiquitous Nutella].

Bread, pasta and meat are the most regularly consumed foods, but younger children dislike vegetables [what's new there?] and, worryingly and surprisingly in this region of abundant fruit, 32% of the interviewees confessed that they hardly ever eat any.

Given a choice, most of the students would like to eat more pizza and sweet food [in the form of cakes and biscuits] and, when it comes to snacks between meals, they are more likely to choose sweet food over savoury sandwiches or crisps.

46% of the students are unhappy with their weight and the figure rises to 53% if we take the girls alone. 41% of the interviewees have dieted without seeking medical advice. Here we go again - I think it is such a pity that, in so many countries, the lives of even people as young as this are blighted by the body images pushed at them in the media. [I see very few obese youngsters here as compared with a town of similar size in the UK but still children worry unnecessarily about their weight.]

An encouraging 80% thought that healthy foods and local produce were best for them, but when asked the majority could not name many Sicilian food products. However, 50% did say that they wanted to learn more about food traditions and 72% wanted to know more about Sicilian agricultural produce.

So there you have it. How do these attitudes and eating habits compare with where you are?

UNHAPPY HOUR

Proposals in the UK to ban or curb "happy hour" alcohol sales are being reported with some surprise in Italy: first there is an explanation of what the "happy hour" actually is and this is followed by statistics on the behaviour of alcohol-fuelled British youth which would dismay any Italian parent thinking of allowing their offspring to visit our country.

Incidentally, the one negative aspect of the UK mentioned by one of Marco's sons [just back from a long stay there] at yesterday's lunch was that he felt threatened by crowds of hostile youths in city centres in Britain during the evenings. What a testimonial for us!

It may not seem so, but most Italians drink very little, limiting themselves to a glass or two of good wine at lunchtime [maybe a little more on a Sunday or feast day, when they don't have to drive afterwards or go to work the next morning] and spirits are rarely drunk, except for a tot of the homemade limoncello at the end of a long, leisurely repast. [However, see here for evidence that this is not always the case.]

Being very much a g & t girl myself, I am hardly in a position to pontificate, but I don't drive and what Mutley calls my "terrifying liqueurs" are rationed for home use these days!