For Equitable and Sustainable Wellbeing (BES) we mean a broad vision of social progress that goes beyond mere economic growth, also including social and environmental dimensions. Istat measures it with a set of 12 large dimensions that include over 150 indicators that allow us to understand how Italy is really doinggoing beyond GDP numbers. A country can in fact grow economically and at the same time worsen in health, education, environmental quality or access to services. And Italy, especially in the Southern regions, is below the European average in various dimensions.
What is meant by Fair and Sustainable Wellbeing?
Evaluate the level of well-being of a country only by evaluating his economic situation is like judging a student only in one subject. BES (Equitable and Sustainable Wellbeing) is one report card with many subjects which is published annually by Istat. In fact, you can do very well in one subject and very badly in another and the final result depends on the balance between all of them, not on a single grade.
In particular, Istat’s BES project evaluates 12 great dimensions of well-being:
- Health: how long we live and, above all, in what physical conditions we spend the years of our lives.
- Education and training: the level of competence of the population, the qualifications obtained and continuous training.
- Work and life balance: not only the employment rate, but also the quality of work, security and the ability to balance career and private life.
- Economic well-being: the average disposable income, the purchasing power of families and the levels of inequality or poverty.
- Social relations: the quality of relationships with others, participation in voluntary activities and trust in others.
- Politics and institutions: the active participation of citizens in democratic life and trust in the State and institutions.
- Safety: the number of crimes committed (such as murders or thefts) and the subjective perception of safety.
- Subjective well-being: how satisfied people say they are with their lives and free time.
- Landscape and cultural heritage: the state of conservation of our territory, the presence of green areas and the protection of artistic heritage.
- Environment: air and water quality, waste management and ecosystem health.
- Innovation, research and creativity: the spread of new technologies and the availability of fast connections.
- Quality of services: the efficiency and accessibility of essential services for the citizen, such as hospitals, public transport and water supply.
Within these dimensions they are monitored over 150 indicatorswhich they measure how we live And how well-being is distributed in the territory.
The basic idea is simple: looking at just one dimension can give a distorted image of reality. The BES serves precisely to avoid this risk, reminding us that a country is only well off when all the different components of well-being grow in a balanced way.
How is Italy doing according to the BES?
The Italian painting that emerges from the latest BES report is made of lights and shadows.
In the short periodthe situation is rather gray: just over a third of the indicators improved significantly compared to the previous year, about a quarter worsened and the rest remained stable.
In the long termHowever, the picture is more encouraging: over the last ten years more than half of the indicators have improved, while only a minority have worsened.
Digging deeper into the data, it emerges three negative trends they are particularly persistent. Among these:
- the increase of mortality from dementia and nervous system diseases in the over 65 population;
- the high share of students with inadequate literacy skills;
- the overload of general practitionersoften with a number of clients exceeding the threshold.
Other indicators, while remaining stable over the last year, however show a worsening in the long termsuch as the share of population in absolute povertysatisfaction with relationships with friends, reading books and newspapers and soil sealing.
However, there is no shortage positive signs. The best trends, both in the short and long term, concern above all the quality of services, education and trainingwork and life balance, environment.
In the Italian context, one of the most evident aspects of the BES, however, is the strong territorial fracture. In all Northern and Central regions (with the exception of Lazio) at least the 60% of the indicators are above the national average. In the South, however, the opposite almost always happens, with the sole exception of Abruzzo.
In particular, the Autonomous Province of Bolzano records on average i better results across eight domains of equitable and sustainable well-being. The exceptions are:
- Environment, where the maximum value is from Molise;
- Innovation, research and creativity, led by Lombardy;
- Education and training, where the Province of Trento excels;
- Security, where the best value is in Calabria.
There Calabria, However, it also shows the worst results in key domains such as Health, Work, Economic well-being and Quality of services. The worst performances in Safety are recorded in Lazio, while for Subjective Wellbeing the minimum is in the Marche.
The comparison with Europe
Compared to the EU average, Italy is still in difficulty especially in:
- Work and life balance (lower employment rate, especially for women);
- Education and training (fewer graduates);
- Innovation, research and creativity (less investments in research and development).
A higher share of also contributes to lowering the Italian average NEETmore income inequality and a risk of poverty slightly higher than the European average.
At the same time, Italy does better than the EU in other areas. We are relatively well off for shealth and safetywith high life expectancy and one of the lowest murder rates in Europe, but also for environment, quality of services, politics and institutions and some aspects of economic well-being.
Awareness is also growing on issues such as climate change and the use of digital technologies, even if this does not always translate into greater trust in institutions or political participation.
All this data reminds us that well-being cannot be reduced to a single number but the result of a complex intertwining of factors that change over time and space, often moving in opposite directions. In short, the BES does not simplify reality, but it helps us to read it better with indicators that go beyond economic well-being.
