Quarter of Italians face poverty

In Italy, a report conducted by the National Institute of Statistics has painted a grim picture of the country, saying a quarter of the country’s population struggles with poverty.

The report says one out of every four Italians, roughly 24.7 percent of the population, particularly women and youth, is on the verge of poverty, a Press TV correspondent said.

Women have lost jobs at a significantly higher rate than men and they rely on social assistance of some sorts in order to make ends meet. Nearly one million women lost or quit their jobs as a result of pregnancy or family reasons.

According to the statistics in the report, almost 532,000 jobs were lost between 2009 and 2010 alone, with 501,000 of them belonging to those between 15 and 29 years of age. Over 2 million youth are considered a “generation on hold” as they are neither in “education, employment or training.”

The report highlights that between 2001 and 2010 Italy has achieved the worst growth performance among all EU nations, averaging an annual growth rate of 0.2 percent.

It shows that a growing number of youth become discouraged and leave school early at the first whiff of a job. Statistics show that 18.8 percent of those in school (high school or post-secondary) leave early.

While many countries finally start to see some light at the end of the tunnel, it appears that the effects of the global financial crisis are far from over in Italy.

Some analysts believe Italy will be the next European country after Spain where masses of youth will gather to display their distrust of the government and demand better living and work conditions.