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LIFE IN ITALY

Italians rate their life 7 out of 10: survey

More Italians were satisfied with their lives last year than the one before, according to a new survey.

Italians rate their life 7 out of 10: survey
Milan's Piazza del Duomo. People report being happier with their lives in the north of Italy. Photo: Marco Bertorello/AFP

For language learners: we've highlighted some useful vocabulary in this news story. You'll find the Italian translations at the bottom of the article.

When asked “How satisfied are you with your life in general?”, 41.4 percent of respondents gave their lives an eight out of ten or higher, found national statistics office Istat. That's up from 39.6 percent 12 months prior, and the highest percentage since at least 2012.

At the same time, the percentage of people saying they were dissatisfied – rating their life five out of ten or lower – dropped from 16.4 to 14.7.

The most common response, though, was “reasonably satisfied”: six or seven out of ten, which was the score 42.3 percent of respondents gave their lives. That figure remained stable year on year.

The annual survey was carried out on people aged 14 and up at the start of 2018 and released on Friday. Results for this year won't be available for another 12 months. 

The areas in which people reported the highest satisfaction were family relationships (90.1 percent said they were reasonably satisfied or very satisfied) and friendships (82.5 percent). More than three-quarters (76.7 percent) of working people said they were at least reasonably satisfied with their job, while 66.2 percent said the same for their free time.

Satisfaction with personal economic circumstances was just 53 percent – but that's still an increase from 2017, when just 50.5 percent reported being content. The percentage of people judging their finances to be stable (62.5 percent) or improved (8.1 percent) was also up, as was the rate of those who thought their household income was adequate (59 percent). 

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There were some geographic and demographic differences: people were more likely to be “very satisfied” with their lives in the north of Italy, where 47 percent gave their lives eight out of ten or above compared to just 35.1 percent in the south. Meanwhile the south had the highest percentage of “unsatisfied” people, with 17.2 percent rating their life five out of ten or less (12.7 percent in the north).

Northerners tended to score their lives more positively for every criteria, from job satisfaction to health and family relationships.

Teenagers were the most satisfied age group, with more than half – 53.4 percent – of 14- to 19-year-olds describing themselves “very satisfied” overall. The rate declined with age and reached its lowest among the over-75s, just 36.2 percent of whom give their life eight or more out of ten.

Between the sexes, men were more likely than women to be satisfied with their health, free time and friendships. Yet women reported a slightly higher level of job satisfaction than men.

READ ALSO: Why are there so few women in Italy's most powerful jobs?


Photo: Italian Presidency Press Office/AFP

Vocabulary

soddisfatto – satisfied

la statistica/i dati statistici – statistics (subject/figures)

la percentuale – percentage

insoddisfatto – dissatisfied

stabile, invariato – stable

il sondaggio – survey

tre quarti – three-quarters

l'aumento – increase

il tasso – rate

probabile – likely

tendere a, propendere a – to tend to

gli adolescenti – teenagers

la soddisfazione professionale/lavorativa – job satisfaction

We're aiming to help our readers improve their Italian by translating relevant vocabulary from our news stories of the day. Did you find articles like these useful? Do you have any suggestions? Let us know.

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