Social and Cultural Conditions
The economic development of a nation, though rich in tradition, history and culture, as Italy certainly is, assumes greater significance only when accompanied by substantial progress in general social conditions, through greater redistribution of wealth, and thus by availability of resources of a wider section of the population. There are numerous parameters whereby the evaluation of the evolution and present state of the quality of life may be measured. One indication is the gross national income pro capite, which in the last 25 years has risen by 115%, from 464,000 lire in 1960 to 885,000 in 1985.

Further parameters enable the increased availability of certain consumer goods and several essential foods (eg., between 1951-1981, meat consumption per person rose from 15 to 74 kg, fresh fruit from 52 to 110 kg and sugar from 13 to 31 kg) to be evaluated. In some other sectors, however, such as public health, there has been a drop in facilities available (eg. in the number of hospital beds). From a strictly cultural viewpoint, there are still considerable pockets of illiteracy, especially in Southern Italy. Between 1951 and 1971, the number of illiterate persons dropped from c. 13% to 5% of the population, but in Campania, Basilicata, Calabria and Sicily, over 10% of the population could neither read nor write. There is still a high proportion of truancy in young people under 14.