Children's quality of life: Valtellina high on sport and education, NRP pushes territories without kindergartens

Sondrio was the first to cross the finish line in terms of children's quality of life, with nine northern territories in the top ten. A dominance that only Siena tries to oppose: the Tuscan province, first in 2023, dropped to 9th place also due to the lower performance achieved in the package of 12 indicators selected this year. On the podium, in second place, is Ravenna, while Friuli Venezia Giulia even has three representatives in the top five, with Trieste (3rd), Gorizia (4th) and Udine (5th).

Sondrio succeeds in making up for the misstep in the share of paediatricians present (for which it is fourth to last) and stands out above all in the 'skills' of boys and girls in what is still commonly called the eighth grade. In fact, it is first ahead of Lecco for numerical skills and comes second (behind Lecco, this time) for alphabetical skills. It is rewarded with a fourth place for Sport and Children and is 8th for living spaces.A ranking, the latter, led by Nuoro, in one of the few cases in which the South prevails. Significant in this regard are the two new indicators introduced.

The South comes out badly in the comparison concerning the children who have benefited from municipal services (Bologna leads with 39.3%, Caserta is at the bottom with 0.7%), while it can benefit from a high number of educational projects financed by the NRP, in particular to set up kindergartens. Nuoro still stands out, followed by Potenza and Matera in Basilicata, while Sicily, with six provinces among the bottom ten, does not seem particularly involved.