Italy improving but South remains behind (2)

(ANSA) - Rome, April 27 - Italy is "clearly improving in many sectors" but is not in line with its EU partners "especially in the South", ISTAT said in its 'Noi Italia' report Friday. It said the Mezzogiorno was among the worst areas in the EU for unemployment, especially youth unemployment.
    There are more poor people in the south of Italy, ISTAT said Friday in the report on 2015-2016 but the "intensity" of poverty is more marked in the north (20.8%) than in the south (20.5%).
    Some 7.3 million Italians are in "grave economic hardship", ISTAT said. It said the quota rose to 12.1% in 2016, with the south triple the north.
    Life expectancy in the northern city of Trento is three years longer than that in the southern region of Campania, ISTAT also said.
    ISTAT also said that Italy is third last alongside Bulgaria in the EU for education spending, with 4.0% of GDP, compared to to the EU average of 4.9%.
    In another finding, the statistics agency said one out of four people in Sicily are in grave economic hardship, "really struggling to get by." Italy also has the highest share of the elderly in the population in Europe, ISTAT said in its 'Noi Italia' report Friday.
    On January 1, 2017 there were 165.3 elderly people to 100 young people and 55.8 people of non working age to every 100 people of working age in Italy.
    The two indexes were significantly higher in central and northern regions, at 174.3 and 57.8 respectively.
    Italy came second to last in Europe for female employment in 2016, ahead only of Greece, ISTAT said in its 'Noi Italia' report Friday.
    In that year Italy remained 13.7 percentage points below the European average for female employment and 9.4 percentage points below the average for employment overall. In other findings, ISTAT said the number of young people who abandon their studies in Italy was growing steadily year upon year.
    It also said the number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) had dipped below 2.2 million but was still the highest in Europe.
    There were 16.3 divorces per 10,000 inhabitants in Italy in 2016, up from 13.6 the previous year, ISTAT said.
    The increase was due to the introduction of a new law allowing 'quickie divorce' in May 2015, the national statistics institute added. The marriage rate in Italy remained low with 3.2 marriages celebrated per 1,000 inhabitants, ahead only of Portugal and Slovenia.