The results of Eu-Silc 2016 Italian survey showed on one side a relevant and widespread growth of the 2015 total household income at current and constant prices and on the other side an increase, in 2016, of the economic inequality and of at risk of poverty or social exclusion population.
Income indicators
In 2015 household mean net income (excluding imputed rents) was 29,988 euros, about 2,500 euros per month (that is +1.8% at current prices and +1.7% at constant prices compared to 2014).
The income growth was higher in the richest quintile of the population, mostly due to a sharper increase of higher levels of self-employment income, recovering after several years of cyclical sharp decrease. As a consequence, the share of total equivalised income (excluding imputed rent) received by the most affluent fifth of the households was 39.4% against 6.3% of the poorest fifth: it means that the most affluent fifth of households had totally an equivalised income 6.3 times (it was 5.8 in 2014) higher than that one of the poorest fifth of households.
Living conditions indicators
In 2016, 30.0% of people residing in Italy were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, showing a worsening of the economic conditions compared to the previous year (28.7%). Moreover, Italy showed a higher share of population at risk of poverty or social exclusion, compared to EU mean (23.5%).
All the components of the at risk of poverty or social exclusion indicator showed an increase: the share of people at risk of poverty (20.6% from 19.9% in 2015), the share of severely deprived people (12.8% from 11.5%) as well as the share of people with low work intensity (12.8%, from 11.7%).
Taxation and labour cost indicators
In 2015, the average tax rate at the household level was 19.4%, a slight decrease compared to the previous year (-0.25 percentage points). Due to tax credits for employees, couples with three or more children showed the lowest average tax rate (6.0%). On the other hand, single people under the age of 64 and couples without children were the types of family who bore the greatest tax burden, with an average rate around 20.9%.
For families with only one earner, the lowest level of income reduced the average tax rate by 0.6 percentage points (19.0%) compared to that of families with two or more earners (19.6%). For households with a single earner and main source of employee income, a reduction of average tax rate was registered in the first and second class of income (0-15,000 euros and 15,000-25,000 euros) as a consequence of the complete set-up of the 80-euro payroll bonus for employees.
Note. On January 18, 2018, at 2.25 pm, the full text of this press release was substituted because in the fourth bullet point on the first page and on page 5, the penultimate paragraph, reads that half of the families residing in Italy receive a net income not exceeding respectively about 2,016 and 2,043 euro per month, while the correct figure is in both cases equal to 2,044 euro per month.
For information
Paolo Consolini
Ph. +39 064673.2424
consolin@istat.it
Gabriella Donatiello
Ph. +39 064673.4579
donatiel@istat.it
Stefano Gerosa
Ph. +39 064673.2420
gerosa@istat.it