Palermo is not child-friendly: it is 104th in the ranking on the quality of life for children drawn up by the Sole 24 Ore which analyzes 107 Italian cities. According to the 2021 edition of the survey – previewed yesterday at the Trento Festival of Economics – the Sicilian capital stands out negatively for the low percentage of school buildings with canteen and gym, nursery schools and equipped green areas and the possibility of doing sport on the territory.
Instead, it falls to 95th place (-6 positions compared to 2020) in the general classification that sees Trieste excel. Milan and Trento were also on the podium. Crotone keeps the last position. The city also conquers the third position for the theft of scooters and motorcycles.
There are twelve statistical parameters examined in all: total migration balance, youth entrepreneurship, sports areas, municipal administrators under 40, rent, marriage quotient, rental gap between center and suburbs, average age at birth, bars and nightclubs, businesses active in e-commerce, graduates and youth unemployment. Ninety indicators of the study are divided into six traditional thematic macro-categories: wealth and consumption, business and work, justice and security, demography and society, environment and services, culture and leisure. Only two (business and work, culture and leisure) improved compared to 2020 by 27 and 22% respectively. In detail, start-ups recorded + 13.2%. Bookshops are also on the rise: +2.4 per 100 thousand inhabitants. Sportsmanship is also growing: + 9%.
The reactions
“A ranking from Il Sole 24 ore certifies something that, unfortunately, we already knew. The city of Palermo is in 104th place, out of 107, for quality of life in the 0-10 age group. It is certainly not a good record, indeed it is a very sad thing. Children – declares the mayoral candidate Fabrizio Ferrandelli – are the Palermo that will come and if we don’t work today to improve their lives, our city will have no tomorrow. It will be necessary to create new nursery schools, encourage the creation of new urban parks and refurbish the existing schools. This – continues Ferrandelli – we will do it with funds from the PNRR, which are a great resource for the city. We will keep schools open until midnight thanks to PUCs, citizenship income earners and voluntary associations. In this way we will give everyone the opportunity to study, sing, dance, play sports and more. This – concludes the aspiring mayor – will make everyone grow and will allow us to have a new Palermo. We can no longer witness the unarmed disaster created by those who ruled over the last 20 years and which is now happening again. Palermo has to change and it has to do it now, because then it will be too late ”.
This is echoed by the center-right candidate for mayor Roberto Lagalla who comments on the ranking on the quality of life for children on Twitter: “Take a picture of a devastating snapshot of Palermo. The result of years of lack of planning and vision by the Municipality. A trend. to overturn “.