Quality of life for young people: Gorizia remains in the lead. Mezzogiorno seeks redemption

Gorizia replicates the success of 2024 in the Quality of Life for Young People. A university city, a border territory exposed to cultural contamination - this year, together with its Slovenian 'twin' Nova Gorica, it is the European Capital of Cross-border Culture - it stands out for the number of show organisers, for the 'conquest' of permanent jobs and is second, behind Cagliari, for the number of companies organising shows, fourth for the average age at first birth, 31.6 years.

Its confirmation is accompanied by the exploits of other northern territories 'favoured' by autonomy: Bolzano's place of honour, Trieste's fourth place, Trento's seventh. Emilia Romagna drops off the podium but maintains three representatives in the top ten (Ferrara is fifth, Forlì-Cesena eighth, Ravenna ninth), while Cuneo rises to third place and another Piedmontese, Vercelli, is tenth. In the best positions there is also a Lombardy region, Cremona, which is sixth.

In this case, however, one cannot speak of a total domination of the North. Meanwhile, the youth segment is the one in which there is a greater presence of southern territories in the first half of the ranking. There are 13 of them in all, and their ranks are headed by a Calabrian (Vibo Valentia, 13th) and three Sicilians: Agrigento - first in terms of the number of municipal administrators under 40, the level of satisfaction with their jobs, and the low number of night-time road accidents with injuries - is 17th, while Enna and Ragusa are in 25th and 29th position respectively. And this despite the employment parameter, which sees all the last 27 steps occupied by southern provinces, with Naples being the black jersey.

Regardless of the geographical brackets, an almost total prevalence of the medium-small provinces and a marked suffering of the areas around the largest cities emerge. Among these, none has an above-average position: Bologna's 57th place, Florence's 62nd, Palermo's 73rd, Bari's 85th, Genoa's 86th, Turin's 90th, Catania's 102nd, and Naples' 104th. Milan, despite a first place in the transformation of less stable relationships into permanent employment contracts, is 101st, Rome is even 107th and last.

For the most part, low values are reiterated, which can be linked to each other: from very high rents in relation to income (Milan 103rd and Rome last, with a value of over 65 per cent, while in Caserta it stops at 9.5) may, at least in part, derive a low number of marriages (Rome is 95th, Milan last) and above all hesitation when it comes to giving birth to a child: Milan and Rome are both in 101st place for the high average age at first childbirth (33.4 years), which, moreover, is now steadily and clearly above 30 throughout Italy. The coup de grace was then dealt by two new indicators. The first is that of perceived insecurity: if Sondrio, Aosta and Nuoro are the territories considered to be the most tranquil, at the opposite extreme we find Rome, last, and Milan, fourth to last. The Lombardy province is at the bottom, then, for night-time accidents, with Rome second to last.A partial redemption comes instead from the percentage of university graduates: here Milan and Rome are preceded only by Monza Brianza and Bologna.