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Istat’s wellbeing report reveals a country making meaningful progress, with enduring strengths in health and safety and fresh momentum against inequality.
Italy has good reason to look ahead with confidence. The figures presented in Istat’s 2025 report on equitable and sustainable wellbeing describe a country advancing across many dimensions of daily life. Serious difficulties remain, particularly for vulnerable households, but the broader picture deserves recognition: Italians are living longer, incomes are recovering, and fewer families feel their economic circumstances are deteriorating.
Of the report’s 132 indicators, 54 improved, 55 remained stable and 23 worsened. Improvements therefore substantially outnumbered setbacks. This is a valuable corrective to accounts that dwell exclusively on Italy’s difficulties. Progress across a broad framework encompassing work, health, the environment and other areas offers grounds for optimism about the country’s capacity to strengthen living standards.
The most striking achievement concerns longevity. Life expectancy at birth reached 83.7 years in 2025, according to the latest provisional estimates, rising by 0.2 years from 2024 and exceeding the 2014 figure by more than a year. Both sexes reached record levels: 81.7 years for men and 85.7 for women. These are achievements that deserve national pride.
Encouragingly, the improvement extends beyond lifespan alone. Expected years in good health increased to 59.1, up from 58.2 in 2024, reversing four consecutive years of decline. That recovery gives added substance to Italy’s strong showing in health, one of the areas where it compares favourably with the European Union. Safety is another relative strength, reinforcing the country’s appeal as a place to live.
Household finances also show welcome movement. Average disposable income per person rose by 2.4% in nominal terms in 2025, following growth of 3% the previous year. After accounting for price changes, real incomes increased by 2.2% over the two years. The gains are modest, but they represent an improvement in purchasing power and provide a firmer basis for household confidence.
Families’ own assessments reflect that brighter direction. The proportion reporting a deterioration in their economic situation fell to 26.2%, compared with 29.5% in 2024 and 33.9% in 2023. It is now approaching the 25.8% recorded in 2019, before the pandemic. Meanwhile, income inequality declined, adding an encouraging dimension to the recovery.
Poverty nevertheless remains an urgent national challenge. More than 5.4 million people experienced absolute poverty in 2025, equivalent to 9.3% of residents, while 8% of households were affected. Larger families and households with children faced particular difficulties. Separately, the share of people at risk of poverty edged down from 18.9% to 18.6%, but remained 2.3 percentage points above the European average.
Even within this difficult picture, regional poverty figures contain encouraging signs. Individual absolute poverty fell in the South from 12.5% to 11.5%, in the North from 8.8% to 8.5%, and in the Centre from 7.6% to 7.4%. The southern improvement is especially welcome, although substantial territorial disadvantages persist.
Across Italy, 7.5% of people lived in households reporting great difficulty making ends meet. The proportion reached 12.3% in the South, compared with 4.7% in the Centre. Regional differences also affect longevity: the North’s advantage over the South has widened to 1.4 years. Education, employment, work and life balance, innovation and research remain areas requiring stronger results.
These results warrant greater attention in the national conversation. Recognising measurable success can support ambition, reminding Italians that persistent problems coexist with strengths capable of sustaining further advances in wellbeing across the country in coming years.
Italy’s achievements should give that effort direction and confidence. Rising real incomes, reduced inequality and record longevity demonstrate tangible progress in matters that shape ordinary lives. The task now is to extend those gains to families and territories still struggling. The report offers a persuasive reason to believe Italy can do so: a country already improving has a foundation on which to build a more prosperous, healthier and inclusive future.
Above all, Italy’s progress deserves to be celebrated with confidence and ambition. The figures reveal a nation with considerable strengths and the potential to turn today’s improvements into broader opportunities for future generations.
Alessandro Fiorentino