The Youth Impact Indicator, a proposal
4' min read
4' min read
Three students from the Veneto region performed mute at the oral exam of the Matura, having already reached the minimum for promotion: sixty. This is not a statistic, but a silent signal. Like the choice of so many high-flyers, young people with high professional potential, who resign from prestigious positions, even in listed companies, even without a Plan B. CEOs are well aware of this, as are personnel directors, today's people managers, who struggle to retain increasingly intangible talent with outdated and expensive welfare plans.
A strong signal also comes from those who choose not to have children and often not even a stable couple. The so-called No Kids generation, which includes DINKs (Double Income, No Kids), accounts for about 50 per cent of 18-34 year olds. It is not only a precarious generation: it is also well-off. In 1999, 538,000 children were born in Italy. Today less than 370,000. It is as if every year Salerno or Perugia disappeared, without a sound. No other European country has seen the birth rate fall so quickly. Today we are the nation that has the fewest children and the latest: 1.18 children per woman, average age at first birth over 32. The natural balance - births minus deaths - has been negative since 2007. The average birth rate in Italy is 7 children per thousand inhabitants, in Europe it is 9‰. Milan, with its 6.8‰, generates no more future than Rome (6.0‰). In contrast, Bolzano and Trento (8.8‰) and Catania (8.5‰) exceed the national average thanks to a more cohesive social model.
Behind the numbers is a deep unease. Young people who are hyper-educated, hyper-informed, but also more distrustful, searching for self and meaning. They want impact, not just profit. And when they do not find it, they withdraw. Well-being no longer coincides with work or objects. "La Roba", as Verga recounted, becomes a prison. Once a bonus was enough to keep a young person. Today even a raise is not enough.
The problem is anthropological. Women of childbearing age have fallen from 14 million (1995) to 11 million today. More precarious, often alone: 29% leave their jobs within two years of their first child. The average cost of a child in the first three years exceeds 600 euros per month. But the greatest burden is emotional.
Italy is therefore a youthful nation but not a young one. The very idea of becoming 'old' is postponed, suspended. According to a survey in 41 states by WIN Market Research (2023), while in the world one feels 'old' on average by the age of 56, in China by 44, in Italy the threshold shifts to 70. A social time that is lengthening, but often remains directionless. If growing old seems remote, building earlier may also seem pointless.
