The thirty-second edition of the historic survey on the Quality of life in the Italian provinces, published today by Sole 24 Ore, rewards Trieste, which has already risen to fifth place in the annual ranking in the last two years. In the 2021 ranking the Julian capital also conquers the primacy in the thematic index of “Culture and leisure”, comes second in “Business and work” and fourth in “Environment and services”. Milan also returns to the podium, after slipping out of the top ten in 2020 due to Covid, and Trento remains solid in third place. The survey, as every year, takes a picture of the country through 90 statistical indicators on a provincial basis divided into six areas: wealth and consumption, business and work, demographics, society and health, environment and services, culture and leisure.
Among these, there are 28 parameters updated to 2021 (some even in September-October last) and a dozen “synthetic indexes” (that is, which in turn aggregate several parameters): this year the historic survey by the Sole 24 Ore allows for focus in particular on how the post-pandemic recovery is going – thanks to an analysis made on 20 of the 90 indicators, for which the change compared to the previous year was also considered – and what are the territorial, gender and generational gaps that still persist, analyzed through the indices of the quality of life of children, young people and the elderly, which reward the provinces with the best context of life by age group, and the index of the quality of life of women, presented today for the first time , which measures the geography of gender gaps. The results of the survey show that among the top ten provinces, seven are in the North-East: Bolzano (fifth), Pordenone (seventh), Verona (eighth) and Udine (ninth) which confirm their livability and Treviso (tenth) is the only new entry, also thanks to the primacy in the quality of life of women, the index presented for the first time this year to focus on gender issues in the post-pandemic recovery.
Aosta (fourth) and Bologna (sixth) also confirmed in the top ten. The Emilian capital, in the lead in the 2020 edition, drops a few positions but wins first place in “Demography, society and health” above all thanks to the high levels of education of the population. The Lombard provinces all re-conquer different positions compared to last year, with the exception of Sondrio. In 2020 the region, more than other territories, had been particularly penalized by the impact of the health emergency, measured for example by the collapse of GDP per capita following the lockdown and by health data (mortality and infections in the first place).
The Lombard provinces are all regaining different positions compared to last year, with the exception of Sondrio. In 2020 the region, more than other territories, had been particularly penalized by the impact of the health emergency, measured for example by the collapse of GDP per capita following the lockdown and by health data (mortality and infections in the first place). And today Milan returns to the top in the items “Wealth and consumption” and “Business and work”, ranking first, among other things, for house prices, average annual salary, the incidence of businesses that do e-commerce and the spread of online banking services. The gradual overcoming of the pandemic crisis, the Sole 24 Ore study again highlights, relaunches other metropolitan cities: Rome rises from 32nd to 13th place, Florence from 27th to 11th, Bari (71st) gains one position, while Naples (90ª) earns two. The capital, in particular, enters the top ten of the «Quality of life of the elderly», one of the three generational indices that debut this year in the survey and is distinguished by levels of education, buildings covered by broadband and museum heritage. In contrast, however, Cagliari, Turin, Genoa and Catania all lose some positions compared to 2020.
The provinces of Emilia-Romagna are also losing ground, penalized – among other things – by the number of complaints by type of crime in “Justice and security” and in the two climate indices (which summarizes ten climatic parameters, from heat waves to extreme events) and Sport and Covid (which measures the impact on sports championships and canceled events). It is going down the Adriatic coast, then, that, compared to last year, there are further decreases in the ranking of well-being, starting from Ferrara (-11 positions) passing through the Marche provinces, arriving in Chieti and breaking latest news.