TRENTO (ITALPRESS) – The sixth edition of the Quality of Life of Children, Young People and the Elders of the Sun 24 Hours, presented at the Festival dell’Economia in Trento, the survey that measures the generational well-being in the Italian provinces and which represents one of the stages of approach to the historic end-of-year classification on the Quality of Life, which this year reaches its 37th edition. To conquer the primacy in the quality of the life of children is Florence, in front of Milan and Aosta. Bolzano instead guides the youth ranking, followed by Trento and Gorizia. Finally, Trieste is first in the index on the Quality of Life of the Elders, in front of Trento and Milan. Highlights also the good transversal positioning of territories such as Trento, Trieste and Aosta, present stably in the high parts of the three rankings.
The survey also confirms a strong territorial fracture: the Mezzogiorno occupies most of the last positions of the three rankings. Trapani closes the ranking of children, Taranto that of the young and Vibo Valentia that of the elderly. In fact, the provinces of the South represent 18 of the last 20 positions in both the children’s index and the young ones. This year the survey is enriched with new dimensions related to social relations and proximity services: 15 to 20 indicators for each generational group, for a total of 60 certified territorial statistics that measure economic conditions, services, opportunities, health, education, safety and quality of relations.
In the 2026 edition, the measurement of the accessibility of services within a 15-minute walk of the house: shops, pharmacies, recreational services and facilities dedicated to the different generations thus become a new key to reading the quality of urban life thanks to the Urban Pulse study of the Centro Studi Tagliacarne. This indicator favours the large metropolitan cities, which improve especially in the ranking of children and the elderly: Milan is second among the children and third among the over 65, while Rome climbs up to fourth in the ranking of the elderly.
Territorial data also tell some of the main social phenomena in progress. On the one hand, the stabilisation of term contracts increases (+2.7%) and the reduction of youth unemployment; on the other, the weight of available income rents increases, which in large cities also exceeds 40% for under 35. In addition, the school skills measured by Invalsi tests are lower: 44% of students are inadequate in numbers and 39.9% are alphabetic, even worse than pre-Pandemia. On the demographic front continues the decline of birth: fertility drops to 1,14 children per woman, while the average age of mothers rises to 32,7 years.
People who live alone (+7.9%) also grow and increase psychological discomfort: in 2025 the consumption of antidepressants grows by 3.3%. Strong territorial differences also emerge in the individual indicators. In the children’s graduation, Aosta stands out, first for the presence of school canteens, and Cagliari, which conquers the primacy by number of pediatricians and for the least economic weight of school fees on families. Milan stands out for proximity services, schools with gym and presence of paediatric nurses, but the last places for housing available and investments Pnrr for education. Among young people, Bolzano is the first to start with low unemployment and high level of education, while Bologna is the university capital with a young graduate of two. On the opposite front, Taranto recorded the highest rate of youth unemployment in the country (44%). For the elderly, Trento, first for home care and civil participation, Milan for the average amount of old-age pensions and Cagliari for the accessibility of health and welfare services. Bari, Naples and Palermo have good results in proximity services dedicated to over 65.
In addition to the territorial classifications, Il Sole 24 Ore also presents a qualitative survey carried out by Eumetra, in collaboration with the Fair Foundation, on a thousand young people between 18 and 35 years. The survey returns the portrait of a generation less focused exclusively on work and more attentive to personal balance: mental health, affective relationships and free time are today considered more priority than employment and income. Four out of five young people are satisfied with their quality of life, but there is a strong gap between what is considered important and the level of real satisfaction, especially on the economic, working and mental health front. The relationship with artificial intelligence appears ambivalent: the perception of benefits prevails in terms of productivity and time saving, but the fears of technological dependence and loss of jobs remain strong.
Photos: Ipa Agency
(ITALPRESS).
