EU, one in five citizens at risk of poverty. The Mezzogiorno among the critical regions

The risk of poverty brings with it another aspect: medical care, as is also shown by the numerous figures in the Eurostat publication 'Key Figures on Living Conditions in Europe'.

In the picture of medical expenditure (ranging from less than EUR 400 per inhabitant in Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic to EUR 1,500 per inhabitant or more in Luxembourg and Belgium), Italy is included in the band of countries with the lowest expenditure. Variations that, as the report reveals, "reflect, at least in part, the different types of healthcare provision in the EU countries".

Across Europe, 67.9% of the population aged 16 years and over perceived their health condition as good. A bad or very bad perception was recorded in only 8.8%, while the remainder described their condition as fair. There was also a percentage of 2.4% who did not visit a doctor because they were too far from medical facilities, waiting lists were too long or too expensive to be covered by sufficient financial conditions.

This situation is, in Italy, very variable and shows a clear gap between North and South. The worst situation, however, is on the islands where residents face the greatest problems. Although it is precisely the islands that could play an alternative card.

Italy has included the principle of insularity in its Constitution precisely to allow all of Italy's islands to overcome the socio-economic difficulties caused by their island status.

"The work of the national institutions must not be limited to the provision of resources that only superficially intervene on the final effects of insularity,' commented the president of the Region of Sardinia, Alessandra Todde. 'Instead, the national institutions must begin to focus on systemic policies that effectively intervene on reducing the socio-economic gaps that lie behind. In short, the institutions must focus on public policies that intervene on the causes of the delay and not on the effects'.

For the regional governor, 'what should change is precisely the paradigm'. "We need to put a stop to subsidiary interventions that put patches here and there, and start thinking and acting in a systematic and organic manner,' she continued, 'not through individual subsidies, but by putting into practice policies of real, serious and effective infrastructural, cultural, social and economic recovery so as to arrive at considering Sardinia and the other islands as resources that contribute to the country's economic and cultural driving force and not as ballasts that slow it down.

The Italian disparities are mirrored in another similar case in Southern Europe, that of Spain. In the Iberian country, 26.9 per cent of the resident population is at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2023, a change of 0.6 percentage points from the previous year, according to the survey on living conditions of the National Institute of Statistics.

This is the European indicator AROPE, which measures both the risk of poverty (20.2 per cent of Spaniards are in this situation) and severe material deprivation (8.9 per cent of Spaniards) and low employment intensity (8.5 per cent of Spaniards) and cross-references it with nine items on the ability of households to manoeuvre, such as the ability to cope with unforeseen events or to heat the house in winter, to estimate the volume of citizens at risk.

The percentage of the population at risk of poverty or social exclusion increased to 26.5% from 26.0% in 2022. The percentage of the population in severe material and social deprivation increased to 9.0% from 7.7% in the previous year.

In addition, almost eight million people in Spain were unable to keep their homes at an adequate temperature during the winter, a figure equivalent to 17.1% of Spanish households, according to the report 'Energy Poverty Indicators in Spain 2022' by the Energy and Poverty Chair of the Pontifical University Comillas. On the other hand, the study points out that 4.4 million Spaniards are late in paying their bills in 2022, or 9.2%.

In relation to activity, 58.6% of the unemployed were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, compared to 17.9% of the employed and 16.2% of pensioners. According to nationality, the percentage of people below the risk of poverty or social exclusion threshold was 23.6% for Spaniards, 40.3% for European Union (EU) foreigners and 65.2% for non-EU nationals. Poverty, or the risk of falling into poverty, is not evenly distributed throughout Spain. Andalusia (37.6%), the Canary Islands (37%) and Melilla (37.6%) accumulate the highest risk percentages.

With the increase in the cost of living due to inflation, the savings rate rose to 17.8% of gross disposable household income, according to INE data, and fell in 2021 as activity picked up, although remaining above the historical figure of 13.8%. In 2023, the savings rate will stand at 11.7%.

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The highest rate was reached in the second quarter of 2020, coinciding with the confinement of the coronavirus pandemic: a saving of 33.6% was recorded. But this is not enough to combat the effects of inflation in 2024.

Meanwhile, 9.3% of the population stated that they would find it 'very difficult' to make ends meet in 2023. This percentage increased by 0.6 points from the previous year.

*This article is part of the Pulse project and was written by Davide Madeddu (Il Sole 24 Ore, Italy) and Ana Somavilla (El Confidencial, Spain).