Third sector, the South below the Italian average

In southern Italy (Campania, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, Sicily, Sardinia) there are 201 organisations registered with the Single Third Sector Register (Runts) per 100,000 inhabitants. This figure is below the Italian average (214), the North-East (232) and the North-West (214), but higher than the figures for Lombardy (168). This is the snapshot taken on 31 May 2024 on the data of Runts, the official registry of Third Sector organisations, which officially started in November 2021 and which is a novelty linked to the reform process affecting the social economy.

As throughout the peninsula, we can see in the South a higher number of registrations in small municipalities (up to 5,000 inhabitants) where the figure rises to 224 registrations per 100,000 inhabitants. With regard to the legal form of the institutions registered with the Runts, which can register in different sections depending on their status (there are a total of seven sections available), we can note that in the South
voluntary associations account for
25.9%, a lower share than the national values (29.8%) and those of the
other macro-areas (North-East 36.6%; North-West 36.5%; Lombardy 33.2%). One of the main advantages of joining the
RUNTS is the possibility of being eligible for the 5 per mille.

In the South 32.0% of registered organisations are eligible for the 5 per thousand, a value well below the national average of 40.4% and the other macro-areas (North-West 46.4%, North-East 47.6%, Lombardy 49.1%). As regards the dynamics of registrations, in the first five months of 2024, we can see that the South has a birth rate of 7.1 registrations for every 100 existing ones, a value in line with the national average (7.0). The mortality rate, on the other hand, is close to 1.7 terminations for every 100 existing, which is higher than the Italian average (1.6).

Moving down to a regional level of analysis, considerable differences can be seen: Basilicata, for example, has a high number of registrations per 100,000 inhabitants (270), followed by Sardinia (230), Calabria (228) and Apulia (221). Sicily and Campania, on the other hand, show much lower values, 191 and 172 respectively. Still in small municipalities, some regions have lower registrations (per 100,000 inhabitants) such as Calabria (196) while other regions show very high values such as Apulia (274) and Basilicata (270). In particular, the share of voluntary associations in the total number of registered organisations is high in Basilicata (35.9%) and Sardinia (36.6%), while it is low in Campania (21.2%) and Sicily (22.2%). With regard to the 5 per thousand, on the other hand, Calabria has an important share of businesses benefiting from this form of funding, at 40.3%. Other regions, however, show low values such as Sardinia (28.0%) Sicily (29.7%) and Campania (29.9%).

Looking at the territorial data, the southern provinces with the highest number of registered organisations as at 31 May 2024 include: Naples with 3,976 organisations (4th place
in Italy), Bari with 2,364 (7th ) and Palermo with 2,297 (10th ).