Key challenges to social inclusion

According to the ISTAT report Poverty in Italy (2025), in 2024 over 2.2 million families were in absolute poverty (8.4% of total, stable from 2023), affecting approximately 5.7 million individuals (9.8%, stable from 9.7% in 2023). Relative poverty remained stable at 10.9% for families (over 2.8 million) but increased slightly for individuals to 14.9% (from 14.5% in 2023), involving over 8.7 million people.

In the same report we can see that young people aged 18-34 show an absolute poverty incidence of 11.7% (approximately 1.15 million individuals, stable from 11.8% in 2023), while minors face 13.8% (almost 1.3 million children and adolescents), the highest value in the historical series since 2014. Poverty is particularly high among children aged 7-13 years (14.9%).

Larger families with children experience greater hardship, with incidence rising from 7.3% for couples with one minor child to 20.7% for those with three or more minor children[1]. Families with minors in absolute poverty total almost 734,000 (12.3%), with the highest incidence of 23.9% for "other typology" families (where multiple family units cohabit). 

Education levels significantly affect poverty incidence: For families where the reference person has at least a secondary school diploma, incidence is 4.2%, rising to 12.8% with middle school qualification and 14.4% with only elementary school or no qualification.

Citizenship plays a crucial role: Foreigners in absolute poverty exceed 1.8 million (incidence of 35.6%), almost five times higher than Italians (7.4%). For families with at least one foreign member, incidence reaches 30.4%, rising to 35.2% for families composed exclusively of foreigners (600,000 families), the highest value since 2014 (increased 10 percentage points from 25.2% in 2014). 
Territorial disparities persist: The South shows the highest absolute poverty incidence among families at 10.2% (compared to 6.9% in the North and 6.3% in the Centre), confirming historically higher poverty levels in Southern regions. Among individuals, absolute poverty affects 11.9% in the South versus 8.5% in the North and 8.3% in the Centre. For families with minors, the incidence reaches 15.0% in the South, almost double the 8.5% in the North. Large municipalities show higher poverty rates (9.6%) compared to small municipalities up to 50,000 inhabitants (7.3%).

According to the Openpolis report (2024), Italy's school dropout rate decreased to 9.8% in 2024, falling below the 10% threshold for the first time and approaching the EU 2030 target of 9%. However, significant territorial disparities persist: Sicily shows the highest rate exceeding 15%, followed by Sardinia and the autonomous province of Bolzano (both around 14.7%), and Campania at 13%. Urban areas demonstrate particular challenges, with dropout rates reaching 10.9% in densely populated cities compared to 8.8% in intermediate-density municipalities. Educational poverty remains concentrated in specific cities, with Prato showing nearly 30% of third-grade middle school students completing their first education cycle with inadequate competencies, while Palermo and Trapani approach 25%.

EUROSTAT data (2023) indicates that 11.2% of young people aged 15-29 in Italy were NEETs, placing Italy among the three EU countries with the highest NEET rates alongside Greece and Romania (all exceeding 16%). Age-specific patterns show 5.3% for those aged 15-19 years, 13.1% for ages 20-24, and 15.1% for ages 25-29. 

Gender disparities persist significantly: among those aged 15-29, 12.5% of young women were NEETs compared to 10.1% of young men, with the gap widening substantially in the 25-29 age group to 7.5 percentage points. Young female NEETs were more likely to be outside the labour force (8.7%) compared to young male NEETs (5.4%), while young men showed higher unemployment rates (4.7% versus 3.8% for women). Educational attainment strongly affects NEET rates: 14.9% for those with low education, 19.0% for medium education (among the highest in EU), and lower rates for tertiary education.

Main concepts

The Italian Constitution establishes foundational principles for social inclusion:

• Article 3, paragraph 2 mandates the State to remove economic and social obstacles limiting freedom, equality, and full human development.
• Article 31 commits the Republic to facilitate family formation with particular regard to large families, protecting motherhood, childhood, and youth.
• Social inclusion in the Italian context encompasses guaranteed access to education (Article 34), health as a fundamental right (Article 32), protection for those unable to work (Article 38), and specific rights for people with disabilities including education and professional training.

Disadvantaged persons are defined through various legislative acts, including:

• Law 328/2000 - Framework law establishing an integrated system of social interventions preventing and removing conditions of disability, economic hardship, and social distress, with priority access for vulnerable persons including youth.
• Law 104/1992 - Framework law on assistance, social integration and rights of persons with disabilities, guaranteeing support services, education inclusion, and discrimination removal.
• Law 68/1999 - Rules for the right to work of people with disabilities through targeted placement and mandatory quotas.
• Law 47/2017 - Measures for protection of unaccompanied foreign minors.
• Legislative Decree 286/1998 - Consolidated Immigration Act establishing protection for foreign minors.
• Legislative Decree 215/2003 - Equal treatment regardless of race or ethnic origin.
• Legislative Decree 216/2003 - Equal treatment in employment and occupation.
• Law 67/2006 - Judicial protection against discrimination for persons with disabilities.