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Italians are poorer but healthier: OECD

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Italians are poorer but healthier: OECD
Calabria, in southern Italy, scored lowest for safety. Calabria photo: Shutterstock"

Health and education are improving in every Italian region, despite income in recent years falling across the country, according to figures released on Tuesday by the OECD.

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Italy showed a positive trend for health and education in all 21 regions since 2000, according to data released by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) on Tuesday.

Trento scored 10/10 for health well-being, according to the most recent figures, closely followed by its northern neighbour Bolzano-Bozen, which scored 9.9. The southern region of Campania came in last with 7.1, while residents’ health prospects were also relatively bad in Sicily, which scored 7.8.

At the top of the chart for education was Trento, once again, tied with Rome’s Lazio region with a score of 6.7. The lowest level of education was found amongst Italy’s islanders, with Sardinia scoring just 3.8 and Sicily 4.4.

But the 21 regions charted by the OECD were united in dire economics, with income falling everywhere between 2000 and 2011. Job prospects also worsened in 11 regions.

Despite the negative trend across the country, the statistics also reaffirmed the strong north-south divide in Italy.

At the top of the scale - and the country - was Bolzano-Bozen, which came top for both jobs and income, scoring 8.8 and 6.0.

The worst three regions for jobs and income were southern Campania (0.3 and 2.5), Calabria and Sicily (both 0.5 and 2.6). The poorest regions are also home to Italy’s three mafia crime groups and areas where criminality has thrived.

Despite the financial situation being equally bad in all three, Calabria came off significantly worse for safety. The region scored just 6.2 for safety, which is based on the murder rate, whereas Campania scored 9.0 and Sicily 9.1.

More broadly, Italy boasted an excellent safety record, with eight regions getting top marks and all apart from Calabria getting 8.8 or higher. 

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