In 2025, Italian women have reached a life expectancy of 85.7 years, four more than men. A record. It’s a shame that living longer doesn’t necessarily guarantee living better: almost one in ten people has given up on a health service they needed and, in the South, only four out of ten women between the ages of 20 and 64 work. The years of life increase, but the conditions for enjoying them continue to depend heavily on one’s home address.
He tells it Equitable and Sustainable Wellbeing (BES) Report 2026 of Istat, published on 26 October. An analysis of 148 indicators that measure the quality of life of Italians, from health to education, from work to the environment. Of the 132 comparable with the previous year, 54 improved, 55 remained stable and 23 worsened. In short, the country has made some progress: the problem begins when we move from national averages to daily life, where finding work, receiving healthcare or having regular water at home can become a geographical question.
We live longer, but treatment remains complicated
Life expectancy at birth reached an all-time high of 83.7 years in 2025, according to the most recent provisional estimates. The years we can expect to live in good health have also started to increase again, after four consecutive years of decrease. Important results, especially for an aging country. However, as lifespans get longer, access to care continues to be a problem for a substantial portion of the population.
According to the official Istat summary, in 2025 9.6% of people declared that they had given up at least one healthcare service, including non-urgent ones, despite needing it. A substantially stable percentage compared to 2024, but much higher than that recorded before the pandemic. And then there are those who, to get treatment, cross regional borders. In 2024, over one in four ordinary hospitalizations for acute pathologies of residents in Basilicata occurred outside the region. In Calabria more than one in five. In Lombardy the share stops at 5.3%.
Naturally, these movements can also depend on personal choices and clinical needs, so not all of them indicate problems with local care. The territorial differences, however, remain enormous. The longevity record is national. The ease of receiving assistance, decidedly less so.
Even home care for the elderly, although growing, continues to show important differences. In 2025, 4.6% of people aged at least 65 benefited from it, compared to 2.9% in 2019. In Calabria the share stopped at 2.2%, while in Abruzzo and Molise it reached 6.9%.
Four out of ten women work in the South. At home, equality still awaits
The Italian job market continues to improve. In 2025 the employment rate of people between 20 and 64 years old reached 67.6%, also growing in the South. Here, however, just over half of the population in that age group works, compared to around three-quarters in the North.
For women the situation is even more difficult: in the South only four out of ten women are employed, while on the national average it is close to six out of ten. And when there is a job, it doesn’t always correspond to the desired one. Among employed women, involuntary part-time work, i.e. work accepted because a full-time job could not be found, amounts to 12.8%. Among men just 4%.
Then we return home, where the job market seems to have left very few traces of its changes. In couples in which both partners work, women between 25 and 64 continue to carry out 68.9% of unpaid family work, considering the total time dedicated by both. The data dates back to 2023 and has been practically unchanged for ten years. Ten years of greater female participation in the labor market, of discussions on equality, of social changes, except at home.
There is also another interesting fact. In 2025, 69.5% of men are very or somewhat satisfied with their free time, compared to 65.2% of women. The report does not allow us to establish how much this difference depends on the distribution of domestic activities. We know, however, who continues to carry out most of them.
Wellbeing still depends on the zip code (and sometimes also on the tap)
Territorial differences are found even in the most basic services. The ones we normally take for granted, at least as long as they work. In 2024, according to provisional data from Istat, municipal water networks lost 3.4 billion cubic meters of drinking water, 42.5% of that released.
In 2022 the percentage was 42.4%. Two years and virtually no change. A stability we would have gladly done without. Meanwhile, the number of families reporting irregularities in water supply is increasing. In 2025 they are 10.2% at a national level, but in Calabria they reach 37.3%. In the North it stops at 3.2%. The data on losses measures the inefficiency of the networks, while the data on irregularities concerns the problems reported by families.
And while part of the infrastructure continues to leak water, climate change is putting pressure on the territory. In 2026, the heat spell duration index reached an all-time high of 75 days, according to provisional data updated to September 15. An indicator of the persistence of heat, which does not necessarily correspond to 75 consecutive days of extreme temperatures.
Fewer school dropouts, but almost half of students struggle in mathematics
The school also presents results that are difficult to read with a simple positive sign. In 2025, early school leaving dropped to 8.2%, already reaching the European objective of bringing it below 9% by 2030. The number of young people who do not work or study, the so-called NEETs, has also decreased, although Italy remains above the European average.
Then come the skills. In the 2025/2026 school year, more than four out of ten eighth-grade students did not reach sufficient levels in Italian and 45.5% in mathematics. The percentages have worsened compared to the previous year and continue to be higher than pre-pandemic levels.
They are different indicators, also referring to different populations, and the reduction of abandonment remains an important result. But retaining more children in the school system also means having to guarantee them adequate preparation. Otherwise the risk is celebrating your time at school without looking enough at what you learn. A problem that weighs even more considering the Italian delay compared to the European average in the diffusion of diplomas, degrees and investments in research.
Over five million people in poverty, even if incomes improve
On the economic front, some improvements can be seen. Disposable incomes per capita grew in real terms by 2.2% in the two-year period 2024-2025 and fewer families declare they have seen their situation worsen. Yet, in 2025 itself, over 5.4 million people lived in absolute poverty. In 2014 the phenomenon affected 6.9% of the population; today we are at 9.3%.
Average incomes are therefore growing, without this automatically meaning an improvement for everyone. Among young adults in the South with a low level of education, for example, the risk of poverty exceeds 50%. This is a different indicator from absolute poverty, but it shows how much education and territory continue to impact economic conditions.
The regional distribution of well-being confirms this fracture. Friuli-Venezia Giulia and the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano record results above the national average in at least ten of the twelve areas analyzed. Campania, Puglia and Calabria find themselves in the opposite situation.
Exceptions exist: Abruzzo and Sardinia obtain various results in line with the Italian average, while on the security front many southern regions present better indicators than the national reference. The differences between North and South, therefore, also change depending on what is measured. For health, work and access to essential services, however, the region of residence continues to have a considerable weight. In Calabria, home care reaches just 2.2% of those over sixty-five. In Abruzzo and Molise it reaches 6.9%. These are territories of the same country, with the same national health service. At least on paper.
