Inclusion Allowance: 67 per cent of recipients are in the South

The South and the Islands account for 67 per cent of the households receiving the Inclusion Allowance, which has benefited over one million households – equivalent to just over 2.4 million people – since January 2024, with an average monthly payment of 683 euros.

The proportion accounted for by the South and the Islands rises to 72 per cent in terms of the number of people involved. This discrepancy, explains INPS, is due to the fact that the average number of family members per household is 2.4, peaking in the South, where the figure stands at 2.5; by contrast, the average number of people per household is significantly lower in the northern regions, where it stands at 2. In terms of the distribution of beneficiaries, the northern regions follow with over 19 per cent, and finally the central regions with 14 per cent.

Let’s take a step back: in January 2024, the Meloni government abolished the universal basic income, introducing two different measures, the Inclusion Allowance (ADI) as a tool to combat poverty, vulnerability and social exclusion amongst vulnerable groups, and the Training and Employment Support (from September 2023) as an active labour market policy tool (which also covers those eligible for the ADI). Despite the differences between the measures, therefore, even after the abolition of the universal basic income, Southern Italy remains the region with the highest demand, a sign of greater social hardship.

In June 2026 alone, there were 690,000 households receiving the Adi benefit, amounting to almost 1.6 million people, with an average payment of 672 euros. As was the case with the Citizenship Income, Campania remains the region with the highest number of beneficiaries: in June, 168,000 households comprising 439,000 people received an average payment of €725. This is followed by Sicily, with 143,000 households and 367,000 people receiving an average of €711; Puglia, with 70,000 households and 161,000 people receiving €673; and Lazio, with 57,000 households, 115,000 people and an average amount of 658 euros.

Of these 690,000 households, 251,000 have dependent children, 288,000 have people with disabilities, 366,000 are aged over 60, 254,000 have care responsibilities, and 13,000 are in disadvantaged circumstances. It should be noted that in 2026 the pool of beneficiaries was expanded through a change to the ISEE calculation, with a higher allowance for the main residence and increases in the equivalence scale for households with children. The one-off payment was extended to households that completed the first 18-month cycle in November 2025, and from 1 January 2026, the one-month suspension period between the end of one payment period and renewal was abolished, ensuring continuity of payment (with the first renewed monthly payment set at 50 per cent).