Country statistics

29 out of 189 in Human Development Index rating
(UNDP, 2019) 

$32,200 Average annual salary per person (World Bank, 2021)

20.1% of population living below the national poverty line (UNDP, 2019) 

With a population of 62.3 million, Italy has a developed industrial northern region and a less-developed agricultural south. 71% of the total population live in urban areas, with Rome, the capital, having the largest population (CIA Factbook, 2019). 

The Homeless World Cup took place in Milan in 2009.

In the less developed southern Italy, there is a history of unemployment and underdevelopment. In 2017, overall unemployment in Italy was 11.45%, but youth unemployment remained at 37.1%. This puts the rate of youth unemployment higher than Iraq, Yemen or Zimbabwe (CIA Factbook, 2019). 

There are an estimated 8,000 people who are homeless in Rome with numbers of people who are sleeping on the streets rising because of a shortage of beds in shelters.  

In February 2021 a man who was homeless died from the cold in the Vatican which led to the Pope appealing for more to be done to help people who are homeless (Guardian, 2021).  

Italy’s long coastline has made it a landing spot for refugees from south-eastern Europe and northern Africa. From 2015-2021 there were an estimated 584,893 refugee and migrant arrivals (CIA Factbook, 2019). Homelessness disproportionately impacts immigrants; in 2015 58.2% of homeless people were immigrants (FIOPSD, 2015).

The number of people living in poverty in Italy climbed to its highest level for more than a decade in 2017, with 5.1 million people living in ‘absolute poverty’ (Reuters, 2017).