Italy: Facts & Stats

Demographics

Population:

60 million inhabitants (January 2009) Density: 199 inhabitants per sq. km Italy has 45 urban areas with over 100,000 inhabitants.

The five largest are:

1. Rome 2,711,491
2. Milan 1,296,673
3. Naples 968,340
4. Turin 910,437
5. Palermo 661,729

Welfare:

The Italian welfare state is based upon the corporatist-conservative model, as described by Gøsta Esping-Andersen, one of the world's foremost sociologists working on the analysis of welfare states.

In 1978, a health reform introduced the National Health Service (Servizio Sanitario Nazionale - SSN), a term inspired by the National Health Services in the United Kingdom. The SSN is a public and universalistic system aimed at guaranteed healthcare for all citizens. It was planned to be an entitlement and was not means-tested. Later, the financial situation urged to introduce user charges in order to avoid wastages, even if this might lead to inequalities, and means-testing for common tests and medicine. In 1992 a major reform allowed citizens to pay higher fees in order to receive private services within the SSN; by this way, public spending decreased. Today the SSN is financed both by direct taxes and by the revenues of the local health agencies, made by partial or total payments on services.

The history of pensions in Italy dates back to the institution in 1898 of the Factory Workers National Insurance Fund for Invalidity and Ageing (CNAS), a voluntary insurance that received grants from the State as well as from employers. In 1919 it became compulsory and it affected 12 million workers; the Agency was renamed National Institute for Social Insurance (INPS) in 1933. The reform, in order to decrease both fragmentation and public spending, was completed by the Dini Act in 1995 that introduced a flexible pension age between 57 and 65 years, and swung back to the contribution system. Pension coverage for the new flexible workers was introduced in 1996. Finally, in 2004 the Maroni Act tried to reform restrictively the pension system starting from 2008, but its effects are supposed to get deeply smoothed by the new centre-left government in charge since 2006.

Maternity leave consists of two months before and three months after birth. Mothers are granted 80% of their previous wages and an additional six months of optional leave. They have the right not to lose their job for one year. Family benefits are related to family size and income, and increase with the presence of disabled in the family. Social assistance is entitlement based and means tested, and applies to needy families. Social services to the elderly, the invalid, and needy families are dealt with by local authorities, that can benefit from the work of volunteer associations and no-profit social service cooperatives.

Education:

Today, there are two stages of education in Italy: primary and secondary. Primary school is commonly preceded by three years of non-compulsory nursery school (or kindergarten).

Primary school lasts five years. Until middle school, the educational curriculum is uniform for all: although one can attend a private or state-funded school, the subjects studied are the same, except in special schools for the blind, the hearing-impaired, and so forth.

Secondary education (Scuole medie) is further divided in two stages: "Medie Inferiori", which correspond to the Middle School grades, and "Medie Superiori", which correspond to the High School level.

The lower tier of "Scuole Medie" corresponds to Middle School, lasts three years, and involves an exam at the end of the third year; "Scuole Superiori" lasts from three to five years. Every tier involves an exam at the end of the final year, required to access the following tier.

The secondary school situation varies, since there are several types of schools differentiated by subjects and activities. The main division is between the "Liceo", the "Istituto Tecnico" and the "Istituto Professionale". Any kind of secondary school that lasts 5 years grants access to the final exam, called Esame di Stato conclusivo del corso di studio di Istruzione Secondaria Superiore or Esame di Maturità. This exam takes place every year in June and July and grants access to any faculty at any University.

Religion:

Roman Catholicism is by far the largest religion in the country, although the Catholic Church is no longer officially the state religion. Fully 87.8% of Italians identified themselves as Roman Catholic, although only about one-third of these described themselves as active members (36.8%). Other Christian groups in Italy include more than 700,000 Eastern Orthodox Christians including 180,000 Greek Orthodox, 550,000 Pentecostals and Evangelicals (0.8%), of whom 400,000 are members of the Assemblies of God, 235,685 Jehovah's Witnesses (0.4%), 30,000 Waldensians, 25,000 Seventh-day Adventists, 22,000 Mormons, 15,000 Baptists (plus some 5,000 Free Baptists), 7,000 Lutherans, 4,000 Methodists (affiliated with the Waldensian Church).

The country's oldest religious minority is the Jewish community, comprising roughly 45,000 people. It is no longer the largest non-Christian group. As a result of immigration from other parts of the world, some 825,000 Muslims (1.4% of the total population) live in Italy, though only 50,000 are Italian citizens. In addition, there are 50,000 Buddhists 70,000 Sikh and 70,000 Hindus in Italy.

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