Over 7 mn families living off grandparents' pensions

(ANSA) - Rome, January 15 - Over seven million Italian families are living off the pensions of their grandparents, national statistics agency ISTAT said Wednesday.
    For some 7.4 million of households, ISTAT said, pensions are the prime source of income.
    Some 36.3% of Italy's pensioners get less than 1,000 euros a month, ISTAT said Wednesday.
    Some 12.2% get less than 500 euros, the stats agency said.
    One pensioner in four, 24.7%, is in the over 2,000 euro bracket.
    ISTAT was reporting on 2018 figures.
    It said "there is wide income inequality among pensioners".
    "The fifth of pensioners with the highest income get 42.4% of overall spending, it said.
    Italian pension spending was up in 2018, ISTAT said.
    The total number of pensioners was around 16 million, it said.
    Total pension spending was 293 billion euros that year, ISTAT said.
    This was 2.2% up on 2017, the stats agency said.
    Pension spending's ratio to GDP was 16.6%, it said.
    This was just 0.1% higher than 2017's 16.5%.
    "This marked an interruption in the declining trend seen over the previous three-year period," ISTAT said.