Child Poverty in Italy: A Silent Crisis

In Italy, food poverty affects two hundred thousand children between 0 and 5 years old, an alarming figure that represents 8.5% of the child population. The situation is particularly serious in the South and on the islands, where the percentage of children who do not receive an adequate protein meal every two days rises to 12.9%. These numbers emerge from the Atlas of Childhood (at risk) by Save The Children, now in its XV edition and dedicated to the first years of life.

Territorial disparities and energy poverty

Energy poverty, which affects almost one in ten children (9.7%), further highlights regional inequalities. In the South and on the islands, the rate of families without adequate heating in winter reaches 16.6%, compared to 7.3% in the Center and 5.7% in the North. This situation has worsened compared to 2021 when the percentage was 8.6%.

Deprivations in early life can have lasting consequences on children’s health and well-being. These factors can perpetuate the cycle of poverty across generations. The Save The Children report highlights another worrying aspect: in 2023, Italy recorded a new negative record for birth rates, with less than 380 thousand new births. The data show that 13.4% of children between 0 and 3 years old live in absolute poverty, while the incidence increases to 14.8% in the 4-6 age group.

An uncertain future for the little ones

The Atlas also highlights the dramatic demographic imbalance: children between 0 and 2 years old represent only 2% of the Italian population. According to an analysis carried out by Ifel for Save The Children, this imbalance is destined to widen. In 2023, in 340 Italian municipalities with less than 5 thousand inhabitants no children were born; in 72 municipalities, there are no children under 2 years old. Piedmont leads the list with the highest number of municipalities with no children under 3 years old (34), followed by Lombardy (10) and Abruzzo (8). On the contrary, Sardinia has the lowest incidence of children between 0 and 2 years old compared to the total population (1.49%), while the Province of Bolzano has the highest rate (2.76%). The current situation requires immediate attention: without significant interventions in supporting families and promoting birth rates, the future of Italian children appears increasingly uncertain.