English A recent Eurostat data release gives us the opportunity to look into an age-old debate: is Italy a poor or rich country? This topic inspires animated discussions, not least in the expat community which, seeing Italy mostly from the outside, has conflicting and often stereotype-driven opinions. Eurostat itself, reporting on the percentage of Italians afflicted by severe material deprivation, shows that very few Italians are in such dire conditions – fewer, in fact, than in France, Germany and Spain.
In this article, we look at this country of intriguing contrasts – “poor Italy” vs “rich Italy”. On one hand, headlines often paint Italy as an economic underachiever: high public debt, youth unemployment, and struggling southern regions feed a narrative of a country in perpetual crisis. On the other hand, by many socio-economic indicators Italians enjoy a quality of life that rivals or exceeds their wealthier European neighbors.
This paradox can be perplexing, especially for expats and retirees considering a move to the bel paese. How can a nation perceived as “relatively poor” also boast Europe’s longest lifespans, low deprivation, and comfortable living standards? The answer lies in looking beyond surface perceptions to the data – and recognizing that there are really two Italys woven into one.
Italy’s Quality of Life: Perception vs. Reality
It’s easy to see where Italy’s “poor country” image comes from. The economy has struggled with low growth for decades, and media images often highlight rundown infrastructure or poverty in the Mezzogiorno (the southern half of the country). Statistically, Italy’s overall income levels and employment rates lag behind the likes of Germany or Northern Europe. Yet this is only part of the story.
By many measures of human development and well-being, Italy looks decidedly “rich.” For instance, Italians enjoy one of the highest life expectancies in the world, indicating good healthcare and living conditions. Household wealth is high (thanks to factors like strong family savings and home ownership), and severe material deprivation is relatively uncommon in most of Italy. In short, Italy’s global ranking depends on what you measure – and sweeping generalizations miss the internal differences.
To reconcile this paradox, one must understand Italy’s internal regional disparities. Looking at the chart above, showing life expectancy at birth by European region, a deep North–South divide is clear to see. Northern Italy, with its industrial economy and higher incomes, often mirrors the prosperity of Northern Europe.
Southern Italy, historically less developed, skews toward the lower end of European socio-economic stats. These two realities combined produce Italy’s middling position in many international rankings. An international index might show Italy somewhere in the middle of the pack, yet that “average” Italian experience doesn’t truly exist – it’s an amalgam of very high and very low outcomes coexisting under one flag.
Italy Among Europe’s Healthiest and Longest-Lived
One area where “rich Italy” clearly shines is health and longevity. Life expectancy in Italy is among the highest in Europe. According to the latest Eurostat data, a baby born in Italy in 2024 can expect to live about 84.1 years on average, essentially tying Italy with Sweden for the longest lifespans in the EU. This is a full 2.4 years longer than the EU average of 81.7 years. Such longevity suggests that despite economic challenges, Italians benefit from factors like a healthy Mediterranean diet, strong family support networks, and effective healthcare (especially in the north). It’s telling that Italy tops the EU in life expectancy while far richer countries like Germany or the UK lag several years behind. According to the United Nations, Italy ranks 7th in the world for life expectancy, well ahead of the United States (ranking 55th) and Canada (ranking 20th).
Importantly, Italy’s high life expectancy is shared broadly across the country, even if some gaps remain. Northern regions generally still outlive southern ones – the average lifespan in northern Italy is about 83 years, versus 80 years in the south – but even 80 is higher than the EU average and far above global norms. In practical terms, a retiree in Italy can expect not only a long life but also access to universal healthcare that delivers outcomes comparable to the best in Europe.
Of course, longevity alone isn’t everything – quality of life matters too. Here again, Italy does well. International surveys on life satisfaction consistently place Italy around the EU median, and Italians report high satisfaction in areas like personal relationships and community life. These less-tangible factors contribute to Italy’s appeal as a retirement haven: one might earn a smaller pension in Italy than in, say, Scandinavia, but the day-to-day living experience – from climate to cuisine to family-centered culture – can be rich in a way not captured by income statistics.
The Two Italys: North vs. South
The cliché of a wealthy, industrial North and a poor, agrarian South has a lot of truth behind it. By virtually every socio-economic metric, the North and South of Italy paint very different pictures.
A few stark examples illustrate this gap:
- Economic output: Northern Italy’s regions rank among the richest in Europe. Lombardy (the region of Milan) boasts a GDP per capita around 127% of the EU average, comparable to prosperous parts of Germany, while Calabria in the South produces only 56% of the EU average per capita. While the reasons are complex, and according to this LSE research, it has a lot to do with the quality of infrastructure, in plain terms, the average Calabrian is working with an income level more akin to Bulgaria, whereas a Lombard’s income is on par with the Netherlands. This huge gap in economic activity is the root of many other divergences.
- Poverty risk: The share of people facing poverty or social exclusion in Italy ranges from literally the lowest in Europe to among the highest, depending on where you look. In the affluent Autonomous Province of Bolzano (South Tyrol) in the far north, only 5.8% of the population is at risk of poverty or social exclusion – the lowest regional share in the entire EU. Even more strikingly, only five out of 265 regions in Europe boast fewer than 10% of its inhabitants at risk of poverty, and two of these are in Italy: South Tyrol and Emilia Romagna.
- By contrast, in poor southern regions like Calabria nearly 49% of residents live at risk of poverty – basically half the population. Nearby Campania (home to Naples) isn’t far behind at 44%. This North–South chasm is extraordinary; it means an Italian moving from Calabria to Bolzano goes from some of the worst poverty levels in Europe to the absolute best. No wonder Italy’s national average ends up somewhere in between. (More on that in the next section.)
- Life expectancy and health: As noted, northerners outlive southerners by a few years. An Italian from Trentino-Alto Adige (in the North) enjoys one of Europe’s highest life expectancies, while someone from Campania (in the South) might live a few years less – still good by international standards, but reflecting disparities in health services, lifestyles, and maybe socioeconomic stress. The north-south longevity gap is roughly 3 years (83 vs 80), and interestingly, this gap had been narrowing until recent years when some convergence stalled.
- Education and employment: We can add that unemployment in the South is often triple that of the North, and many young southerners migrate northward for jobs. Educational outcomes (test scores, dropout rates) are also markedly better in the North. These factors perpetuate the cycle: companies invest in Milan or Bologna, not in Palermo or Reggio Calabria, furthering the divide. The average household income in Lombardy or Emilia-Romagna can be nearly double that in Calabria. It truly feels like two different Europes within one nation.
Why such a divide? The reasons are historical and structural – from the legacy of disparate development after Italian unification, to differing levels of industrialization, organized crime impact, and governance. But for our purposes, the key point is that Italy’s “poverty” is highly concentrated in certain areas, while other areas are as wealthy and efficient as any on the continent. This reality heavily influences Italy’s overall image. International observers see Italy’s mixed stats and often (wrongly) assume everyone in Italy is moderately struggling. In truth, many Italians live in conditions similar to Austrians or Swiss (especially in the north), while many others face hardships more comparable to Eastern Europe.
Understanding this can help expats and retirees plan accordingly. If you settle in a northern city like Milan, you’ll experience infrastructure, services, and income levels that feel very “Western European” or even upscale. Relocating to a small town in Calabria, by contrast, might mean facing some developing-area challenges – higher unemployment around you, less efficient public services, perhaps more visible poverty. The cultural warmth and beauty of the South are undeniable, but so are its economic difficulties. Italy truly offers both first-world and second-world experiences depending on location.
Yet it’s important not to overstate the negatives: even in the poorest southern communities, daily life can be rich in social connections, and basics like healthcare coverage still exist (a Calabrian still has access to Italy’s national health system, albeit sometimes needing to travel north for specialized care). Conversely, the North isn’t paradise – it comes with a higher cost of living and big-city stresses. The bottom line is the Italian experience is highly regional.
Italy vs. Peer Countries: By the Numbers
Zooming out to the national level, how does Italy compare overall in Europe? The metric “at risk of poverty or social exclusion” (AROPE) is a comprehensive indicator Eurostat uses, combining relative income poverty, material deprivation, and low work intensity. Italy’s latest AROPE rate is about 23% (23.1% in 2024). That means roughly one in four Italians faces some risk of poverty or social exclusion. Is that high or low? It’s higher than the EU average (which is around 21%) – so in that sense Italy is doing a bit worse than “average Europe.”
It’s also higher than France’s 20.5% and Germany’s ~21%, indicating Italy has more people in hardship than those large peers. However, Italy is nowhere near the worst in Europe. Countries like Bulgaria (30.3%), Romania (27.9%), Greece (26.9%) and Spain (25.8%) all have significantly higher poverty risk rates. In fact, Italy sits in the middle-to-upper tier of the EU – a notch worse than Western/Northern nations, but better than most of Eastern and some Southern ones. This matches the earlier point: Italy is a bit of an outlier in Western Europe – one of the poorer performers in the “rich club,” yet far from the dire straits of Europe’s poorest.
Another indicator: Severe material and social deprivation. This looks at the share of people who cannot afford a set of basic necessities (from heating to a phone to an unexpected expense). For Europe overall, 6.4% of people were in severe deprivation in 2024 – already a fairly low number by global standards. Italy’s severe deprivation rate is around the same ballpark or lower. Eurostat’s latest release shows Romania (17.2%), Bulgaria (16.6%), and Greece (14.0%) at the top of this deprivation index, whereas countries like Slovenia, Poland, Croatia are below 2-3%. Italy isn’t listed among either extreme, implying it lies somewhere in between. Indeed, Italy’s figure is roughly 4–5% (mid-single digits), which means 95%+ of Italians do not suffer severe material deprivation. This is a strong result – it puts Italy much closer to wealthy countries in this regard than to the poorer ones. The vast majority of Italians can afford the essentials of modern life, even if their incomes aren’t high by Northern European standards.
It’s also worth noting that Italy’s households are asset-rich in ways that don’t show up in income statistics. Italians have a high home ownership rate and relatively low personal debt. A recent European Central Bank study found that Italian household net wealth is about 8 times their disposable income, higher than the Eurozone average and even higher than in Germany or France.
In simpler terms, the average Italian family might earn less per year than a German family, but they often have more accumulated assets (like fully owned homes, savings, etc.) relative to what they make. This hidden wealth factor is part of “rich Italy”: money is managed differently (less credit, more saving), and the social welfare system (public healthcare, pensions, etc.) reduces out-of-pocket costs on major life expenses.
Living Conditions: Challenges and Progress
None of this is to downplay Italy’s economic challenges. The “poor Italy” is real – especially in parts of the South where unemployment and poverty rates remain painfully high. However, it’s important to highlight that even in many of these struggling areas, living conditions have been gradually improving over time (with some setbacks along the way). For example, data shows a long-term decline in material deprivation across Italy since the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.
Back in 2012, amid recession, over 11% of Italians faced severe material deprivation (under the old definition); by recent years this has fallen to around half that percentage as the economy recovered and social programs helped those in need. Progress is not a straight line – the late 2010s saw improvements, then COVID-19 and the 2022 cost-of-living crisis caused some backsliding. But the overall trajectory for much of Italy is positive: poverty rates in several regions have slowly receded, educational levels are rising, and access to services has expanded.
We can see evidence of improvements even in year-to-year regional data. Between 2022 and 2023, a number of Italian regions saw noteworthy drops in their poverty risk rates. The small southern region of Molise stands out – its share of people at risk of poverty or exclusion plummeted from about 37% to 25% in just one year (a 12 percentage point drop). Other regions showed gains as well: in the North, Liguria’s poverty risk fell ~6.6 points and Bolzano’s already-low rate fell even further.
These are remarkable short-term changes, though one must be cautious – year-to-year volatility can happen, and one year’s improvement doesn’t guarantee a permanent trend. Unfortunately, not all regions moved in the right direction at the same time. For instance, Calabria – which was already one of the poorest – actually saw its poverty risk increase by about 5.8 points between 2022 and 2023.
Overall, however, the big picture is that Italy today is better off than a generation ago on many social fronts. Life expectancy has climbed steadily (aside from a COVID-related dip in 2020), poverty and deprivation rates are down from their peaks, and infrastructure and services have improved in many areas. Italians in large parts of the country enjoy modern living standards – reliable electricity and clean water everywhere, good public transport in cities, high internet penetration, etc.
Even rural parts of Italy, while economically less dynamic, often benefit from decent infrastructure (those autostrade highways reach almost every corner of the boot). Crime rates in most of Italy are low by international standards (petty theft can be an issue in cities, but violent crime is uncommon). All these factors contribute to a solid quality of life that might surprise those who only know of Italy’s economic woes via news articles.
For expats and retirees, what all this means is that Italy can offer an excellent lifestyle and social safety net, provided one chooses their location wisely and has a clear-eyed understanding of the local economic context. A retiree in a Tuscan hill town may encounter Italy’s charms without really feeling any “poverty” around them, whereas one in a remote Calabrian village might see more of the country’s struggles firsthand. It comes down to the locale – but importantly, no matter where you are in Italy, you benefit from the national systems (healthcare, etc.) and the overall high human development the country has achieved.
So, Is Italy a Poor or Rich Country?
“Poor Italy, Rich Italy” is more than a catchy phrase. Internationally, Italy is sometimes underestimated because of economic statistics that, frankly, have not kept up with the nation’s peers. Yes, growth has been sluggish and parts of Italy are underdeveloped. But digging deeper reveals a nation that is, in many ways, quite affluent in terms of human well-being. Italians live long lives, rarely suffer extreme deprivation, and accumulate wealth in ways not immediately obvious from income data. The affluent North drives much of this success, while the South reminds us of the work still to be done. This internal contrast influences how Italy is viewed abroad: its overall rankings can slip because of the southern data, leading some to think “Italy is doing poorly,” even as northern Italians enjoy living standards on par with the Dutch or Swedes.
Italy is a developed country with pockets of underdevelopment. It’s a place where you can drink cappuccino on a posh Milanese boulevard among fashion executives, or wander a struggling rural village that hasn’t changed much in decades. Both are authentically Italy. Embracing these contrasts is part of the experience. And as the data shows, even the “poorer” side of Italy has been steadily improving, while the “richer” side firmly secures Italy’s place among the world’s most livable countries.
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