Italy
(Last updated August 2005) |
 |
||||||||||||
Introduction and OverviewFrom 1996 through 2001, Italy enacted series of new laws focused on the family and the role of government that are uncharacteristic for a country that has long avoided explicit family policy. For years, Italian social policy is directed toward certain categories of families and family members, in particular, children, pregnant women, poor families, and families with a handicapped child. The new laws acknowledge the role of the family in the care of its members, and the responsibility of women in this area. The new laws provide increased income support for less well-off families with children, new parental leave, and a comprehensive reorganization of social services and social assistance. Italy's history of a strong Catholic tradition coupled with a weak national government, on the one hand, and strong regional governments coupled with an industrialized and affluent north on the other resulted in a limited and fragmented welfare state. As Italy follows the trends in lower birthrates and higher female labor force participation rates characteristic of its European neighbors, it too is motivated to develop stronger social policies, especially around the family. Traditional family roles and structures continue to dominate Italy, as well as the regional differences between the more urban, economically developed north and rural, agricultural south that have long existed. Women continue to have primary responsibility for children, and adult children continue to bear primary responsibility for caring for their aging parents. The elderly are living longer and adult children tend to remain at home with their parents until marriage which like other industrialized countries, is increasingly delayed. Although the labor force participation rate of Italian women at 51 percent in 2001 is well-below the EU and OECD averages of just over 60 percent, the rate is higher in Italy than in the past and leads to calling for reorganization of family time and roles. Of growing concern and an impetus for policy change, is Italy's very low fertility rate - at 1.20 it is the lowest in the EU, coupled with delayed childbearing. Concern too, that the economic situation affects family formation, spurned an increase in both tax deductions and allowances for families, as well the provision of economic benefits to young families with children for meeting housing needs. Giovanni Sgritta (2003) in discussing "Key Family Issues in Italy" states that "the Italian family is synonymous with Italian society and that social policy is family policy in Italy." He provides three examples:
|
|||||||||||||
HighlightsClick here to view or print country highlights in PDF format. |
|||||||||||||
Government AgenciesIn October 2000, the Italian parliament approved a framework law "for the realisation of an integrated system of social interventions and services" (Legge quadro per la realizzazione del sistema integrato di interventi e servizi sociali). The new law replaces legislation dating from 1890 and will considerably update Italy's social services system. It redefines the role of the institutions involved and gives greater planning and management responsibilities to the regions and local bodies. The new law also corrects partially the existing structural imbalance in the allocation of public resources between "social assistance" (assistenza) and "social insurance" (previdenza). It establishes a system of social assistance which aims to help people in need throughout their lives, and which is the main basis Italy's social policies. The legislation also provides for the compulsory establishment of local networks to provide social assistance, and promotes the role of the not-for-profit sector. The law provides for the establishment of a National Fund for social-policy measures, establishes management models for social services, and introduces minimum performance levels that must be met throughout the country. Social assistance policy is now established in a National Social Plan (Piano Sociale Nazionale) that central government and the regions must draw up every three years. This plan specifies the actions that the integrated service network must carry out over the three-year period in order to guarantee standard services nationwide, avoiding geographical imbalances and inequality of access for citizens. The plan will also define: the distribution of the costs of the services among the various institutions; the criteria on which users may have to pay some of the costs; and guidelines for personnel training and professional updating. The National Social Plan will include service standards regarding: the integration of older non-self sufficient people and people with disabilities; supporting families and children; the integration of immigrants; and combating alcoholism and other forms of addiction. All regions will develop collaborative regional social plans, while all municipalities must draw up a local social plan, including both social assistance and health care initiatives. The new law assigns importance to voluntary and not-for-profit organisations for the provision of services in partnership with the network of public structures. Private social service providers will have to be accredited and will have to guarantee quality standards in their activities. Family policy is administered across several public agencies in Italy. At the national level, this includes the Ministries of Family and Social Solidarity, Labor and Social Security, Finances and Budget, Education, Interior, and Health. Legislation enacted in 2000 sought to develop a more coherent approach to child policy, however, there is the problem of vertical fragmentation that results from Italy's four-tier government: national, regional, provincial, and commune or municipal. The national government is relatively weak and most of the responsibility for child and family policies is either regional or municipal. At the national level, cash benefits-family allowances and maternity and parenting benefits-are the most significant. Tax benefits (exemptions for spouse and dependent children) are modest. Social assistance is moderate, discretionary, and provided by local, not national government. Among the services (benefits-in-kind) education, including preschool, is most important and the responsibility of the national government. Since the early 1990s, regional and municipal governments have been assuming greater responsibility for family issues. Maternal and child health services, infant and toddler care, child welfare, and related social services are largely the responsibility of regional and local governments. |
|||||||||||||
Demographic and Other Social TrendsItaly has a population of slightly over 57 million (2003), less than it had in the early 1990s, and a little less than Britain and France. It has a rapidly aging population, placing it among the oldest of the OECD countries (18 percent aged 65 and older), and the smallest group of children (14.5 percent of its population, slightly less than Japan) (Table 2.10). Ninety percent of Italy's children under age 18 live with both parents, while only 8 percent live with a lone parent (and 90 percent of these live with their mother)-but this group is growing. Families are clearly changing, although not to the same extent as in northern Europe. Italians are most likely to have the three or more adults living a family, largely thought due to the presence of one or both grandparents and the likelihood of an adult child living in the home. At the same time the number of one-person households have increased significantly, largely elderly widows, while large families with three of more children have declined. Childless couples (who now constitute 20 percent of households), and one-child families are the dominant group of families. Divorce and separation are rising albeit slowly and marriage rates are falling. According to Zanatta, only about 3 percent of the child population
live in institutions and that number has declined dramatically over
the last 30 years. Foster family care is still unusual, however
(Zanatta, 1998).
|
|||||||||||||
Social Protection
|
Italy has been known as the epitome of categorical, decentralized, and targeted social policies. Social policies are inconsistent across the country and firm national data are often unavailable. Moreover, economic disparities between north and south further exacerbate the problem of standard of living inequities nationwide. Philosophically, the church/state tension surfaces in various child and family policy debates. In contrast to a preference for a targeted policy strategy with a priority on the poor, Italian health and preschool education continues to stress the benefits of universalism. Italy spent slightly more than 25 percent of GDP on social protection (excluding education) in 2000, below the EU average of 27.3 percent (2000), but the proportion of social expenditures spent on families and children, 3.8 percent, is less than half the EU average (2000). Family benefits were an important part of Italy's social expenditures in the 1950s, constituting about the same share of social expenditures as pensions, about 40 percent. From then on, however, family benefits declined dramatically as a portion of social expenditures while pensions doubled. According to the Report on the State of Nation in 1999, the share of poor families reached a peak in 1988, and slightly decreased in the 1990s (Sgritta, 2002). Disparities in the incidence of poverty between the Northern and Southern regions are striking. Nearly one in four Southern families lives in relative poverty. Children under 18 are one of the population groups with the highest rates of poverty and there is evidence that this risk is tending to increase. The risk of poverty is greater for children living with a single parent, especially if that parent is the mother; and it is almost double that rate for children living in the South. One study found that the poverty rate for lone mother families was about 35 percent in central and northern Italy, but 65 percent in the South. In a 23-country study, Child Poverty in Rich Countries, Italy ranks 21st with the highest child poverty rates in the group, higher than the UK but with lower rates than the US and Mexico (UNICEF, 2000). Italy has recently established a means-tested guaranteed minimum income for those individuals with no earnings and no other sources of income. The regional authorities are responsible for delivering this benefit. |
||||||||||||
Child, Youth and Family Policy RegimesMaternity, Paternity, Parental, and Family LeavesNational legislation established a mandatory five-month, paid and job-protected maternity leave for all wage earning mothers at the time of pregnancy and childbirth. The first such law was enacted in 1912 and the legislation was amended several times subsequently, to cover agricultural workers, domestic servants, and recently professional women and the self employed, by a benefit pegged to the average wage. The leave begins two months before expected childbirth and ends three months after. A cash benefit replacing 80 percent of wages is provided through the social security fund. Civil servants receive their full pay while on leave and many collective bargaining agreements require employers to top the social insurance benefit and pay an additional benefit covering the remaining 20 percent of wage. All full-time working mothers are also entitled to two hours a day of rest time during the first year after birth, which if taken together, can effectively shorten their work day by two hours. Mothers who work less than two hours are entitled to a rest period of one hour a day. In the case of maternal death or sever disability, the rest periods can be taken by the father. After several years of effort, a parental leave policy was enacted in 2000 that entitles either parent to take up to 6 months leave at any time until the child is three years old, following maternity leave. The 10-month leave is extended by an additional 6-month for each parent with an income-tested benefit worth 30 percent of earnings. Parental leave is a family entitlement that can be shared by both parents or used exclusively by one of the parents. During parental leave, parents receive a benefit equivalent to 30 percent of earnings. Employers receive state incentives to offer part-time employment opportunities to parents following leave. Small firms, which have to temporarily replace the workers, may receive a tax benefit. Parents have the right to take job-protected leave, paid at 30 percent of earnings, to care for a seriously ill or disabled child under age 3. Adoptive and foster parents of children under age 6 have the same right to the three-month leave following adoption and the optional ten-month leave after, for children under age 3. Other personal leaves are often available as well. Benefits are included in taxable income. |
|||||||||||||
Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC)Almost 95 percent of Italian children aged 3 to 6 are enrolled in preschool programs, which is among the highest rates of enrollment in the European Union. Italy's ECEC programs are divided by age and follow a pattern fairly similar to that in France and Belgium. Compulsory primary school begins at age 6. Scuola Materna (Preschool). Like the French Ecole Maternelle, the Scuole Materna is the Italian preschool program serving children aged 3-6, under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, financed largely by the national government, free for the core school day and voluntary. About 96 percent of the cohort is enrolled. The program began as in several other countries, more than a century ago, as a private philanthropic activity carried out under religious auspices. There was little further development before 1968, when national legislation was enacted, assigning responsibility for the establishment of preschools to the Ministry of Education. With national funding, the initial priorities were for economically depressed areas and rapidly growing urban areas; but the 1970s saw an explosion of provision along with an acceleration of female labor force participation. The Materna are 10-month programs open from about 8:30 am to 4:30, 5:00, or 6:00pm, depending on location and program. One such program in Reggio Emilia is world renowned for its quality and creativity. Italian leaders in the field account for the explosion in demand for public preschools to five factors (9): (a) increasing awareness of the value of a group experience for a child's social development and a child's right to have such an experience; (b) the recognition of the value of preschool as preparation for primary school; (c) smaller families and parents concern about the growing isolation of young children (e) the declining availability of qualified staff in religious schools; and (e) parental belief that state schools were of higher quality and more convenient because of their longer hours. Almost 60 percent of the children attend public preschools while only 19 percent are in church programs and 10 percent in private secular programs. About 1/3 of the facilities are religious while almost all the remainder are public. Asilo Nido (Child Care Centers). The Asilo Nido is the publicly funded and largely publicly operated child care program serving children aged three months to three years, open 11 months of the year, and charging income-related fees. The program emerged out of the same history and institutions as the scuola materne. However, national legislation enacted in 1971 gave all mothers the right to use these programs for the under threes, but gave working mothers priority for places; other priorities now are children of lone mothers, poor mothers, and handicapped children. Yet despite these criteria for eligibility, most children who attend are from middle and upper class families. The law decreed that the national government should play an active role in funding these facilities, employers should contribute 1 percent of payroll taxes to support them, but that regional and local governments should have responsibility for their operation. Today, regional and local governments are the responsible agencies for funding and operating the program. The Asilo Nido began first as a social service, then became a support service for working women, and only recently has begun to be viewed as an important developmental experience for children generally. It is still not viewed in the same way as the Scuola Materne which is now universally viewed as an essential socialization and educational experience for all children. The Asili Nidi cover the full workday and are often open 11 hours a day from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. They are designed to serve children from three months of age, but children usually begin at 9 months or 1 year, when the parental leave ends. Typically, centers serve from 30 to 60 children. Coverage is modest, nationally, at about 6 percent of the age group, but in the north in some regions such as Emilia-Romagna, coverage may reach 30 percent. All centers are public and almost all are operated under municipal auspices. Quality varies enormously, but is excellent in certain parts of the north. There is little or no family day care and most children of working mothers are still cared for by domestic servants who provide in-home care. The Emilia-Romagna region has been in the forefront of these developments, as it has with regard to Scuola Materna, and has established an innovative system of infant and toddler care under the auspices of the public education system. Given the shortage of places, and the conviction that a group experience is important even for the very young, this region has developed part-day and part-week programs serving all caregivers of very young children, both at-home parents, grandparents, and "nannies". According to the OECD Thematic Review, Starting Strong, a proposal has been submitted to transfer responsibility for the 0-3s from regions and municipalities to the Ministry of Education. There is also an effort to improve the sharing of knowledge and expertise between the northern and southern municipalities with regard to developing ECEC programs. Further enhancements include increasing staff training and skills, such as requiring teachers and co-ordinators to have a university degree. Other contact staff will be required to hold a 3-year, tertiary diploma.
|
|||||||||||||
Child and Family AllowancesFamily allowances are cash benefits provided to low-income employees and pensioners based on the presence and number of children in the family. In Italy, they are means-tested, tax-exempt, contingent on employment status, provided for children up to age 18 (with no age limit for disabled/handicapped children), and among the lowest in Europe. Originally, they were universal and a large portion of the population received them. Over the years, the number of potential beneficiaries has declined and of those receiving benefits, more than 50 percent are now old age pensioners. Moreover, since they are not indexed, they lost almost 40 percent of their real value between 1988 and 1996. In the 1960s and 1970s, family allowances constituted about 5-10 percent of a workers wage for a couple with two children, but by the early 1990s were worth practically nothing. Between 1996 and the present both the number of beneficiaries has increased and the benefit level has been raised by about 20 percent, and by 25 percent in cases of families with a disabled child (or other relative). At the end of the 1990s, legislation reducing family allowances for those with income over a certain level was enacted. A new means-tested benefit was introduced in 1999 for all families with more than three children below 18. This creates increased assistance to low-income families but also increases the financial disincentive to work, for those who qualify. Family allowances are higher for a lone parent with a child. The income ceiling is higher for families with a disabled child. Italy was a participant in the OECD thematic service of early childhood education and care.
|
|||||||||||||
Child and Family Tax BenefitsTax rates and deductions vary according to income, number of earners, and number of children. There are tax credits that increase with more children, single-earners, and are available for lone-parent families. An additional credit is available for families with children under age 3 (Kazepov & Sabatinelli, 2002). |
|||||||||||||
Other Child Conditioned Income TransfersSurvivor's Benefits are available to children. No other social insurance benefits are available. Social Assistance is discretionary, financed and delivered by municipalities, and varies greatly across the country.
|
|||||||||||||
Child and Adolescent HealthItaly had a universal national health service that was established in 1978, but in 1993 turned it into an income-tested alternative. However, children up to age 12 are covered by a universal service. Health planning and financing is carried out at the national level but registration and the delivery system is managed at regional and local levels, often closely linked with personal social services. One part of the social service system is also targeted on children. There is a significant difference in access to health care and health status between the north and the south.
|
|||||||||||||
YouthThe unemployment rate for youth aged 15-24 was about 30 percent in 2000, twice as high as the EU rate of 15.5 percent, and far higher than the OECD average of 11.8 percent. Youth unemployment is uneven across Italy, it is considerably higher among young people in the south. Italy is noted, however, for having one of the lowest suicide rates in Europe among persons between the ages of 15 and 24 years. The suicide rate of 5.3 per 100,000 in Italy is in stark contrast to Finland (20.1/1000,000). Click here to view in PDF format a table on the Ages at which children are legally entitled to carry out a series of acts in the European Union. See Youth Policies section for definition of terms used. Reconciling Work and Family Life Substantial efforts to offer child-care and nurseries to children from the age of 3. Priority is given to children of single parents, working parents and parents with low incomes. The objective of the next reform is to extend the number of years in the primary school by lowering the age of entrance to 5. Current coverage: 6 percent of all children under 3 years of age and 95 percent of all children between 3 and 6 are in public of publicly funded child care facilities.
|
|||||||||||||
ReferencesEuropean Commission. (2002). Family benefits and family policies in Europe-Italy. European Observatory on the Social Situation, Demography, and Family. Retrieved from the World Wide Web at http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/eoss/index_en.html. Kahn, A. J. & Kamerman, S.B. (1994). Social policy and the under 3s: Six country case studies. New York: Columbia University School of Social Work. Kamerman, S.B. & Kahn, A. J. (1994). A welcome for every child: Infant and toddler care in Europe. Washington, D.C.: Zero To Three. Kazepov, Y. & Sabatinelli, S. (2002). Italy. In J. Bradshaw & N. Finch (Eds.), Comparison of child benefit packages in 22 countries. Research Report No. 174. UK: Department for Work and Pensions. OECD (2001). Country Note: Early Childhood Education and Care in Italy. Paris, France: OECD. Sareceno, C. (Forthcoming). Family change and family policies in Italy. Mannheim Series. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press. Sgritta, G. (2002). The situation of families in Italy-2001. European Observatory on the Social Situation, Demography, and Family. Retrieved from the World Wide Web at http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/eoss/index_en.html. UNICEF (2000). A league table of child poverty in rich nations. Innocenti Report Card, 1. Florence: Innocenti Research Center. UNICEF (2005). A league table of child poverty in rich nations 2005. Innocenti Report Card, 6. Florence: Innocenti Research Center. Zanatta, A. L. (1998). Special report: Children's issues in Italy. In European Observatory on National Family Policies, Developments in National Family Policies 1996. Brussels: European Commission. |
|||||||||||||
Notes
|
|||||||||||||
ContactsWashington Embassy
Ministry
European Union Family Observatory National Representative
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||
