A newly released national survey this week by Censis paints a stark picture of contemporary Italy: a middle class under pressure, a generation growing older, and a collective “dream” increasingly shattered.
According to the 59th Censis Report, over the past 15 years Italian households have seen their wealth shrink by 8.5 percent. The decline has hit hardest those in the middle. Families in the lower deciles lost up to 23.2 percent of their wealth; those in the mid-deciles saw losses between 24.3 percent and 35.3 percent; while only the very richest 10 percent saw modest gains of 5.9 percent.
As a result, wealth distribution has become sharply unequal: as of early 2025, 60 percent of national wealth is concentrated in 2.6 million households — and nearly half of it belongs to just 1.3 million families. Meanwhile, 13 million households at the bottom of the pyramid saw their share of wealth decline from 8.7 percent in 2011 to 7.3 percent in 2025.
The report underlines a crisis not only of finances, but also of trust and social cohesion: Italians are spending less on traditional cultural consumption — unless that culture takes an “experiential” form worthy of sharing online.
At the same time, digital and audiovisual media remain dominant. In 2024, 94.1 percent of Italians still used television, 90.1 percent had internet access, 89.3 percent owned a smartphone, and 86.1 percent used social media.
By contrast, print newspapers hit record lows — only 21.7 percent of the population read them, a drop of 45 percent compared to 2007.
The Censis data reflects a country where economic hardship, demographic aging, and cultural transformation converge — and where many feel the collective promise of the past has eroded.
Read more via Rai News
