S Rimoldi

Aging in Italy: The Need for New Welfare Strategies in an Old Country

Italy, a Southern European country with 60.8 million inhabitants, has the largest proportion of elderly citizens (aged ≥65) in Europe of 21.4%. The aging of the population is due to a number of reasons, such as baby boomers growing old, an increase in longevity, and low birth rate. Although international migration has increased in recent years, the addition of a foreign segment of the population has neither compensated for nor significantly curtailed the aging phenomenon. The impact of aging on the economic sustainability concerns the progressive reduction of the workforce, high incidence of pension spending in the overall resources allocated to welfare, recent reform of the pension system, and the growing issue of non-self-sufficiency in the elderly. Despite limited financial measures dedicated to research, Italy is conducting important studies on aging, both at the national and international level. Physicians and researchers in the field of geriatrics and gerontology are not only promoting quality of life in the elderly, and healthy-active aging, but also contributing to economic stability and social organization. Finally, nutritional and lifestyle habits-and their role in preventing chronic diseases-are the focus of the current international event EXPO 2015, with many sections dedicated to the elderly.

Surveying immigrants in Southern Europe: Spanish and Italian strategies in comparative perspective

Italy and Spain, as countries of recent immigration and high irregularity rates, have struggled to adapt their statistical system, especially their population registers, to adequately reflect the presence of an increasing number of immigrants in their territory. The population registers of the two countries have adapted differently to these changing realities: Spain introduced significant improvements in Padrón which have increased its coverage and accuracy. This is still not the case in Italy, making it necessary to resort to non-random sampling methods. The paper discusses the methodological implications of these differences and evaluates different methodological solutions based on both random and non-random sampling methods in both countries.

The role of families in the population crisis

The population crisis in European countries can be synthesized into two phenomena: the loss of vitality and the aging society. What are the main consequences of this crisis? Can the family play a determining role in helping to face and overcoming these consequences? In this paper we suggest promoting the family as a possible means to help sustain or bring about a recovery in the demographic health of society. The first section is devoted to an analysis of the demographic decline across European countries by examining converging patterns in culturally, politically, and historically different contexts. The second section explores more deeply the interrelations between the determinants of the population crisis and living arrangements. A picture of the new shape of families across Europe precedes an analysis of the changing patterns in living arrangements and their link to reproductive functions. A final section studies the extent to which the family influences the role of women in the labor market.

YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE XXI CENTURY

The Italian young people account for less than 24% of total population (the lowest percentage in the European Union) and they are going to fall down to 19% by the 2050. On the contrary, young Americans are going to raise for the next 40 years. At the same time the age of young Italians when leaving the parental household can be considered high (about 31 for men and 29 for women) compared to the other Europeans. The reasons can be found in a combination of cultural and financial constraints, but choices of convenience are important too. Finally the analysis of the prevailing values of young people shows that human rights (46,9%), peace (41,5%) and respect for human life (39,2%) are the three main personal values for the Europeans, and that rule of the law (38,3%), respect for human life (38,2%) and human rights (35,8%) are the main for the Italians.