Europe is aging, and Italy certainly does not lend a hand. If in the EU territory young people represent 16% of the total, in Italy the index is below the European average. Europe has few young people, and Italy even fewer. We are talking about the age group between 15 and 29, it is they that the European Union refers to as “young” when it comes to thinking about targeted policies. They are the so-called “fresh forces”, those who come after compulsory schooling, and who can make a contribution to the growth of the national and, consequently, European economy. But there is a shortage.
Figures in hand, there is no doubt that something more needs to be done. The aging of the twelve-star club indicates that future-proof policies will be needed. For this reason, the EU institutions have decided to make 2022 the European Year of Youth as soon as it has begun. Young people are few, and also quite vulnerable. Eurostat has calculated that in the wake of the pandemic, there are nine million people between the ages of 15 and 29 who have left the labor market. They don’t have one, they don’t look for it, and they even dropped out of training.
There is a lot to do, and Eurostat is meeting the European Commission with a mapping of young people on a regional basis. The map of Italy does not add up. There is practically half the country – nine regions out of twenty – where the youth rate is struggling to reach 15%. Of the over 60.2 million inhabitants in Italy surveyed as of January 1, 2020, not even one sixth of the population is between 15 and 29 years old. There are 8.9 million young people ready for the big leap into the world of work, 6.8%.
Lombardy, on a national scale, is the one that boasts the most young people. There are 1.4 million. Campania (a scarce one million), Lazio (830 thousand) and Sicily (about 818 thousand) follow. In this special ranking Piedmont is only eighth, with 597 thousand young people eligible for enrollment, and among the regions with the lowest rate of young people in Italy.
The Italian data follows an entirely European phenomenon. Across the EU, just one in six people were aged between 15 and 29 at the time of the photograph taken by Eurostat. In other words, out of a total population of 447.3 million EU citizens, just 73.6 million are “young”. Of these, 37.8 million are men (51 percent) and 35.8 million are women (49 percent).