Household income up, inequality widens

(ANSA) - Rome, December 5 - Italian household income is up but inequality is widening, ISTAT said Thursday.
    In 2017, the stats agency said, the net average annual income of Italian families was 31,393 euros.
    This was up 2.6% in nominal terms on the previous year, ISTAT said.
    Purchasing power also rose, by 1.2%, it said.
    But the total income of the best-off families continued to be over six times that of the poorest households, it said.
    The percentage of the population at risk of poverty or social exclusion fell from 28.9% to 27.3%, however.
    The percentage of individuals at risk of poverty was steady on 20.3%.
    In further findings, ISTAT said that in 2017, net household income was 8.8% below that of 2007, 10 years earlier.
    For the south of Italy this gap was 11.9%.
    For the centre it was 11%.
    And in the more affluent north it was 6.7% in the northwest and 6% in the northeast.
    The fall in household income was much sharper for large families than for families with two members, where it was just 1.8%.
    Income from payrolled salary work was down 0.5% while other forms of income were up, ISTAT said.