Italy on the up, from education to healthcare. The good news hidden in the BES figures

There is an Italy where people are living longer, sending more children to nursery, dropping out of school less frequently, and returning to visit museums, theatres and libraries. An Italy where employment is rising, the proportion of young people neither in education nor employment is falling, and electricity generation from renewable sources is increasing. The good news can be found in the 2026 edition of the BES, the Istat report on Equitable and Sustainable Well-being, which measures Italians’ quality of life by looking beyond gross domestic product. There is no shortage of problems, of course. But there is also progress that deserves to be highlighted.

Let’s start with health. In 2025, life expectancy at birth reached 83.7 years, compared with 83.5 in 2024 and 82.6 in 2022. Over three years, life expectancy has increased by more than a year. This is not the only encouraging indicator: life expectancy without activity limitations at age 65 has risen to 10.8 years, up from 10.4 in 2024. Certain daily habits are also improving. The proportion of sedentary people has fallen from 38.3 per cent in 2022 to 31.7 per cent in 2025, a reduction of 6.6 percentage points. The prevalence of smoking has also seen a slight decline, from 19.8 per cent in 2024 to 19.2 per cent in 2025.

Further positive signs are emerging from the education sector, where one of the Italian system’s most persistent problems – early school leaving – is on the decline. In 2025, the proportion of young people who left education and training prematurely fell to 8.2 per cent, compared with 9.8 per cent in 2024 and 11.5 per cent in 2022. Over the same period, the proportion of NEETs – young people who are neither in employment nor in education – has also fallen: it stood at 19 per cent in 2022 and has dropped to 13.3 per cent in 2025. This does not mean the problem has been solved, but that over three years its scale has been reduced by almost six percentage points.

Changes are also evident at the start of the educational journey. The proportion of children aged between zero and two enrolled in nursery has risen from 29.5 per cent in 2021 to 37.4 per cent in 2024. The educational level of the population is also rising: in 2025, 67 per cent of people aged between 25 and 64 will hold at least a school-leaving certificate, compared with 63 per cent in 2022. Furthermore, the proportion of people with at least basic digital skills has risen from 45.9 per cent in 2023 to 54.3 per cent in 2025.

In the labour market, the most striking figure is the rise in employment. The employment rate for those aged between 20 and 64 rose from 64.8 per cent in 2022 to 67.6 per cent in 2025. At the same time, the labour force participation rate fell from 16.2 per cent to 12.6 per cent. There are also two improvements that are less apparent in traditional statistics: involuntary part-time work has fallen from 10.2 per cent to 7.7 per cent, and the proportion of employees who feel insecure about their jobs has dropped from 4.9 per cent to 2.3 per cent. 

There are also signs of movement in cultural and social participation. Following the slump caused by the pandemic, Italians have started going out again. Cultural participation outside the home has risen from 23.1 per cent in 2022 to 40 per cent in 2025. Over the same period, the proportion of people visiting libraries has risen from 10.2 per cent to 15.1 per cent. Volunteering is also on the rise, involving 9.2 per cent of the population compared with 8.4 per cent in 2024, whilst social participation has risen from 25.4 per cent to 30.3 per cent over three years. Even life satisfaction has improved: the proportion of people giving a high rating rose from 46.3 per cent in 2024 to 47.6 per cent in 2025.

There is also good news on the environmental front. In 2024, the share of electricity generated from renewable sources reached 41.7 per cent, compared with 36.9 per cent in 2023 and 30.7 per cent in 2022. During the same period, the amount of municipal waste sent to landfill fell from 19 per cent in 2021 to 14.8 per cent in 2024. Separate waste collection is also on the rise: the relevant indicator rose from 58.7 per cent to 64.7 per cent. Per capita emissions of climate-changing gases have also fallen, from 7.1 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent in 2022 to 6.5 in 2024.

Finally, some progress has been made in services. Coverage of ultra-fast fixed-line broadband has risen from 53.7 per cent in 2022 to 77.6 per cent in 2025. The proportion of elderly people receiving care at home through the integrated home care scheme has risen from 3.3 per cent to 4.6 per cent. The average duration of civil proceedings has fallen from 446 days in 2024 to 409 in 2025.

Of course, the Bes does not paint a picture of a country without contradictions. Poverty remains widespread, certain housing difficulties are on the rise, and the healthcare system continues to face challenges. Nor are all the positive indicators progressing at the same rate, nor in all regions. But this is precisely the point of a report on well-being: to distinguish between what is getting worse and what is improving.