Equitable and sustainable well-being (BES) means 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 doing, going beyond the 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?
Evaluating the level of well-being of a country only by evaluating its economic situation is like judging a student only in one subject. The BES (Fair and Sustainable Wellbeing) is a 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 major 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, over 150 indicators are monitored, which measure how we live and how well-being is distributed in the area.
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 picture that emerges from the latest BES report is made up of lights and shadows.
In the short term, the 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 term, however, 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, three particularly persistent negative trends emerge. Among these:
- the increase in mortality due to dementia and nervous system diseases in the over 65 population;
- the high proportion of students with inadequate literacy skills;
- the overload of general practitioners, often with a number of patients above the threshold.
Other indicators, while remaining stable in the last year, however show a worsening in the long term, such as the share of the population in absolute poverty, satisfaction with relationships with friends, reading books and newspapers and soil sealing.
However, there is no shortage of positive signs. The best trends, both in the short and long term, mainly concern the quality of services, education and training, work and life balance, and the environment.
In the Italian context, one of the most evident aspects of the BES, however, is the strong territorial fracture. In all the Northern and Central regions (with the exception of Lazio) at least 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 the best results on average in eight domains of fair 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.
Calabria, however, 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, particularly for women);
- Education and training (fewer graduates);
- Innovation, research and creativity (less investments in research and development).
A higher share of NEETs, more income inequalities and a risk of poverty slightly higher than the European average also contribute to lowering the Italian average.
At the same time, Italy does better than the EU in other areas. We are relatively well off in health and safety, with high life expectancy and one of the lowest murder rates in Europe, but also in 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 helps us to read it better with indicators that go beyond economic well-being.
