Population: 60.6 million
- Ranks above the average in income and wealth, work-life balance, civic engagement, social connections and health status, but below average in housing, subjective well-being, environmental quality, jobs and earnings, personal security, and education and skills.
- Average household net-adjusted disposable income per capita is USD 26,588 a year, lower than the OECD average of USD 33,604 a year. But there is a considerable gap between the richest and poorest – the top 20% of the population earn over six times as much as the bottom 20%.
- 58% of people aged 15 to 64 in Italy have a paid job, below the OECD employment average of 68%. Some 67% of men are in paid work, compared with 49% of women. In Italy, some 4% of employees work very long hours, less than the OECD average of 11%, with 6% of men working very long hours compared with just 2% of women.
- 61% of adults aged 25-64 have completed upper secondary education, below the OECD average of 78%. This is truer of women than men, as 59% of men have successfully completed high-school compared with 63% of women. In terms of the quality of the education system, the average student scored 485 in reading literacy, maths and science in the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), slightly lower than the OECD average of 486. Although girls outperformed boys in many OECD countries, in Italy boys scored 7 points higher than girls on average.
- Life expectancy at birth in Italy is 83 years, three years higher than the OECD average of 80 years, and one of the highest in the OECD. Life expectancy for women is 86 years, compared with 81 for men.
- Level of atmospheric PM2.5 – tiny air pollutant particles small enough to enter and cause damage to the lungs – is 18.3 micrograms per cubic meter, higher than the OECD average of 13.9 micrograms per cubic meter.
- Water quality: 71% of people say they are satisfied with the quality of their water, below the OECD average of 81%.
- Strong sense of community and high levels of civic participation in Italy, where 92% of people believe that they know someone they could rely on in time of need, slightly higher than the OECD average of 89%. Voter turnout, a measure of citizens’ participation in the political process, was 75% during recent elections; higher than the OECD average of 68%. Social and economic status can affect voting rates; voter turnout for the top 20% of the population is an estimated 83% and for the bottom 20% it is an estimated 71%, slightly narrower than the OECD average gap of 13 percentage points.
- General satisfaction with life on a scale from 0 to 10: 6.0 grade on average, much lower than the OECD average of 6.5.