Italy Report 2026 | Press Release – Executive Summary
PRESS RELEASE
EURISPES
38th Italy Report
A Country Split in Two
Regenerating the spirit of community and the sense of the State
The Italy Report 2026, now in its 38th edition, is structured around six chapters, each offering a dichotomous reading of the reality under examination, and is composed of six essays and 60 phenomenological fact sheets. Through a dual reading of reality, the Report addresses issues that Eurispes considers representative of Italy’s current political, economic and social situation.
The thematic dichotomies identified for the Italy Report 2026 are:
Opes/Inopiae • Democracy/Authoritarianism • Peace/War
Homologation/Identity • Dystopia/Utopia • Present/Future
The General Considerations signed by the President of Eurispes, Gian Maria Fara, open the Italy Report and outline the country’s situation, offering an interpretation of some of the processes currently under way: “For years, from the pages of the Italy Report, we have pointed to the fractures that were widening in our country: the crisis of representation, the erosion of democracy, the withdrawal of the individual from the public sphere, demographic desertification, the retreat of schools and healthcare, and the structural gap between North and South. We have described the ‘giants that tower over us’, namely the main challenges threatening our societies, and we have called for ‘the courage to have courage’. Looking at the country in its deeper dynamics, however, one has the impression that reality has run faster than any forecast. And, like Medardo of Terralba, Calvino’s Cloven Viscount, wounded in war by a cannonball that splits him into two halves, we see Italy divided into two parts, each pulling in its own direction, unable to find agreement and wholeness.”
“The Italy of 2026,” explains the President of Eurispes, “is a country facing a constellation of crises that are not emergencies to be managed by patching things up, but knots which, if left untied, risk tightening around us in an irreversible grip. Our system of values, institutions, economy, society and demography is under pressure and requires responses that can no longer be postponed.
Benedetto Croce wrote that ‘history is always contemporary history’. Today this statement resonates with all its gravity. What we call the past — decades of inertia, populism and postponed reforms — inhabits the present and conditions it. We are not free to start again from scratch; we can only choose where to restart from.
Italy is the third-largest economy in the euro area; and yet, paradoxically, ours is one of the developed countries with the slowest growth, with the highest public debt among advanced democracies, the lowest birth rate in Europe, and one of the largest flows of youth emigration on the continent. Our most recent estimates indicate that Italy loses at least 34,700 young people to emigration every year: a unique case in Europe. This is the same country that, between 1950 and 1970, transformed an agricultural nation, shattered by war, into an industrial power. That generation was not more intelligent than today’s: it was simply more willing to sacrifice the present in order to build the future. That willingness is the capital we have squandered.”
“There is a question,” according to Fara, “that many have been asking themselves for some years now: is liberal democracy still capable of governing the complexity of the 21st century? In recent years, we have witnessed a phenomenon that can be defined as the ‘capture of the public agenda’ by private actors: decisions of collective interest are taken in non-public settings, while individuals’ private sphere has become an open book, often shaped by algorithms that know more about us than we know about ourselves. In this context, the traditional democratic system shows deep cracks. Not because it is wrong in its principles, but because its institutions were designed for a world that no longer exists. Italy is not immune to this process. Our crisis of representation is numerical, but above all symbolic. Citizens abstain not because they do not understand the value of democracy, but because they no longer trust that voting can change anything. When political debate is reduced to slogans, when multi-complexity is systematically trivialised, when talk shows and social media replace parliamentary chambers as the arena of political confrontation — and courtrooms too, with trials being held in television lounges — democracy is slowly emptied of meaning.”
“We live in an era,” continues President Fara, “in which the dominant narrative focuses on Artificial Intelligence: a powerful and transformative tool, capable of reshaping entire economic sectors and profoundly modifying the structure of businesses, the organisation of services and the labour market. And yet it remains a tool without values, without conscience and without responsibility. Above all, it has no agenda of its own, because it responds to the agenda of those who control it. But regulating Artificial Intelligence with the conceptual tools of twentieth-century law is like trying to hold back a river in flood with a bucket.
Alongside the great opportunities for local and global modernisation and development created by Artificial Intelligence, there are situations of great risk and negative impact. These concern not only the control of people’s behaviour, but above all the impoverishment of critical thinking and the spread of so-called ‘short thinking’ — processes that we can identify with the expression ‘Artificial Ignorance’. Artificial Intelligence and Artificial Ignorance are two processes that have begun to intertwine in this new political, economic and technological cycle, which is only at the beginning of its evolutionary path.”
“A generation without great goals is a generation without a future. And here lies another crucial issue: Italy needs great causes, that is, shared collective goals around which to mobilise energy, resources and intelligence. But to seize them, politics must be capable of long-term thinking. And long-term thinking is incompatible with the permanent electoral cycle and with the logic of short-lived consensus.
According to Gian Maria Fara, we need to recover what, for the Founding Fathers, was the ‘sense of the State’: the idea that there are interests higher than those of a party, a coalition or an electoral mandate. This position recognises the difference between those who govern for themselves and those who govern for the community. Between the politician who asks, ‘what can I promise in order to win the next election?’ and the politician who asks, ‘what must I do to leave the country in better condition than I found it?’ The second question is the right one, and also the most difficult to ask. There is an ongoing process that concerns our country, but also the entire international community: decision-making power has found a home elsewhere. We find it in technological platforms that decide what millions of people see every day, shaping not only consumption but also beliefs, values and ways of thinking. We find it in global investment funds that influence the economic policies of states. We find it in informal networks of power that meet in private residences rather than in parliamentary chambers, and that have the financial resources to give concrete form to the philosophical construct of a society beyond democracy. And they are convinced that their vision is humanity’s inevitable destiny.”
“Those with a good memory will recall that in 1999, almost thirty years ago, from the pages of this Report, we entrusted the image of Gulliver tied down by the Lilliputians with the task of describing an Italy blocked, entangled, bound to the ground by a myriad of small threads which, taken together, immobilised it. It was the eve of the Third Millennium, and Swift’s giant seemed the most fitting metaphor for a country that had all the resources it needed to run, yet remained hindered in its movements. That metaphor has not aged. Indeed, it has found an even more suitable subject to which it can be applied: Europe. A giant much larger than our country, with incomparably greater resources, with a historical, cultural, scientific and civic primacy that no other continent can claim.
The Lilliputians who have immobilised the European giant,” underlines the President of Eurispes, “are not Europe’s enemies: they are its own founders and guardians. They are the national governments that, at the very moment when they should give up sovereignty in order to gain collective power, instinctively retreat towards their own particular interests. They are the Brussels bureaucracies that have progressively turned the instrument into the end, the means into an obstacle, regulation into a maze. They are the national political parties that have learned to use Europe as a scapegoat for every internal difficulty, shifting onto Brussels the responsibility for choices that they should have claimed as their own.
A system has therefore taken shape in which decisions are made too slowly because they must pass through the filter of twenty-seven often divergent national interests, and in which common resources are distributed according to logics of compensation rather than strategy. Fragmentation is such that European foreign policy does not in fact exist. Similarly, common defence has remained an open construction site for decades, while threats to the continent’s security have grown exponentially and changes in the international order are redrawing our vulnerabilities. Yet, faced with emergencies, Europe has, in some circumstances, responded with a degree of pragmatism that should not be underestimated: one need only think of the Covid-19 emergency. When necessity becomes urgency, the European system manages to express some capacity for reaction. But reacting is not the same as leading. And Europe, so far, has almost always reacted: to external shocks, sudden crises and market pressures. It has almost never led.
It will not be enough to revise regulations in order to simplify them. What is needed is to make choices of civilisation. In this case, the threads to be untied are those of bureaucracy, which immobilises, together with the knots of sovereignty, far more resistant because they are intertwined with the identity, history, culture, fears, stereotypes and beliefs of the different states.”
“As Antonio Gramsci wrote, paraphrasing Romain Rolland, ‘the pessimism of the intellect’ must not prevent ‘the optimism of the will’. And the optimism of the will means believing that it is worth committing oneself, even when the results are uncertain or when the path is difficult and the forces available seem insufficient.
Italy has already experienced seasons of great progress and transformation. These transformations were not painless. But they were guided by a vision: by the idea that there could be an ‘after’ better than the ‘before’, and that it was worth working to build it. We are increasingly aware that today that vision is missing. Or it is fragmented into partial visions that end up contradicting or clashing with one another. This absence is what Italy must most profoundly address.
To build a collective vision, we must be willing to engage in a difficult process of dialogue and compromise, which requires credible institutions, a mature political culture, an active civil society, and an information system that reclaims its role as a pillar of democracy in the dissemination of knowledge, according to the rules of pluralism. Above all, it must be able to fulfil its role without becoming, from time to time, the loudspeaker of one side or the other.”
The President of Eurispes concludes: “The 38th Italy Report that we are presenting today does not claim to be that vision. It is a gaze upon the reality of the country — the most rigorous that our methodology allows. A contradictory country, often, one might say, even discouraging, but extraordinarily rich in resources, talents, beauty, intelligence and knowledge. A country which, like Calvino’s Cloven Viscount, contains within itself its contradictions and its differences: the part that wants to remain still and the part that wants to change, the part that looks to the past and the part that imagines the future.
The hope, and the challenge, is that the two halves may finally find a way to reconcile themselves into a fuller identity, capable and equal to what history asks of us.”
To enrich the Report, this year’s sample surveys explored some of the topics traditionally monitored by Eurispes: trust in institutions; politics; opinions on some of the most debated ethical issues; the economic situation of households and consumption; the use of new technologies and the risks associated with them; the advent of Artificial Intelligence; defence issues and international scenarios; smart working; new ways of travelling and overtourism; eating habits; the relationship with the animal world; and many other topical issues.
Almost half of citizens expect the country’s economic situation to worsen over the next 12 months, although citizens’ own economic situation remains stable compared with last year. More than six out of ten citizens make it to the end of the month, but with difficulty, and around one third, 33.1%, have to use their savings. Rent is the expense that creates the greatest difficulty for households, 45.6%
The Eurispes Italy Report 2026 sample survey on the performance of the national economy and citizens’ personal situation points to a context marked by widespread fragility. The real unknown concerns the coming months: the war in Iran, rising energy commodity prices, international trade tensions and the possible increase in interest rates represent a combination of risks that could reverse the progress recorded over the past two years. The fact that almost half of citizens, 47.8%, expect the country’s economic situation to worsen over the next twelve months — more than 10% higher than last year — is an eloquent sign of awareness, fear of a new crisis ahead and lack of confidence in the future. Despite this indication, the personal and family economic dimension shows stability compared with last year’s survey, with the largest share of citizens, 42.1%, stating that their economic situation over the past 12 months has “remained substantially unchanged”. However, 36.9% report a deterioration in their economic situation, 12.7% “markedly” and 24.2% “slightly”, while only one in ten has experienced an improvement.
Rent payments create difficulties for 45.6% of households facing this expense, followed by utilities, 28.7%, mortgages, 27.2%, and medical expenses, 25.5%. As a result, a very high proportion of households make it to the end of the month, but with difficulty, 62.1%, while around one third, 33.1%, compared with 35.4% in 2025, use their accumulated savings to make ends meet.
Prices are rising for 8 Italians out of 10, with increases exceeding 8% according to 38.9%. Food, fuel and meals outside the home are the categories where increases have been most widely reported
The Eurispes survey on consumption reveals a negative assessment of price trends over the past year, with increases reported in 82% of cases. Citizens believe that price increases exceeded 8%, 38.9%, while many also report increases between 3% and 8%, 35.7%.
The categories where price rises were felt most strongly are food products, 93.3%, fuel, 91.2%, meals outside the home, 83.4%, travel and holidays, 82.2%, as well as transport, 75.4%, clothing and footwear, 72.4%, personal care, 70.9%, health expenses such as co-payments and medicines, 68.8%, technology, 61.7%, furniture and household services, 61.4%, cinema, shows and cultural activities, 61.1%, and rent, 60%. Lower shares concern home purchases, 56.8%, gyms and sports, 56.3%, and telephone expenses, 49.9%.
Resisting and adapting: to cope with difficulties, even purchases considered necessary are postponed, 60.2%; outings are cut back, 54%; and travel is reduced, 52%. Domestic help, tutoring, gardening and similar services are paid undeclared in 38% of cases. The number of people giving up regular medical check-ups and dental care is increasing. Half of Italians pay for purchases in instalments through zero-interest digital platforms. The family of origin remains a safe harbour for economic help, 29%, or for a place to live in times of difficulty
To contain expenses, Italians also postpone purchases considered necessary, 60.2%, reduce outings, 54.1%, travel or holidays, 52.1%, and spend less on personal care, 43.5%, domestic help, 42.6%, and work or renovations, 39.6%. Almost 4 Italians out of 10, 38%, have resorted to undeclared payments for certain services. The share of those who have used payment instalments, 41%, also fits within this picture, with people resorting to deferred payment tools to support expenses that would otherwise be difficult to manage. More specific sacrifices linked to care services, such as babysitters, 36.1%, and carers, 37.3%, also show significant incidence, although they refer to subsets of the population, namely “only those who need them”.
The most difficult sacrifices concern health care, with higher figures for regular medical check-ups, 34.6%, compared with 27.2% in 2025, and dental care, 32.1%, compared with 28.2% in 2025. These are followed by specialist visits, 23.4%, veterinary expenses, 20.4%, medical therapies or interventions, 19.8%, and the purchase of medicines, 15.7%. Cuts to beauty treatments and cosmetic procedures have also increased significantly, from 26.4% to the current 34.9%.
Digital platforms and apps for zero-interest instalment payments are used in 51.3% of cases, down from 65.3% in 2025.
In times of difficulty, people turn above all to their family of origin, 29.1%, to financial help requested from friends, colleagues or other relatives, 14.6%, or to loans from private individuals outside the circle of friends or relatives and outside banking channels, 10.6%. Some pay bills and utilities late, 23.3%, and taxes late, 18.8%. In one case out of ten, difficulties force people to return to the home of their family of origin or in-laws, 9.6%; to sell or lose important assets such as a home, car or business, 11.4%; to contract debts that they are then unable to repay, 9.3%; or to rent out a room or property they own, 9.6%.
More than 2 Italians out of 10 need loans. People go into debt mainly to buy a home or to pay off accumulated debts
More than 2 Italians out of 10, 22.1%, took out a bank loan over the past year, mainly to buy a home, 46.3%, and because they needed to pay off accumulated debts, 29.1%. In addition, 20.5% needed to turn to a bank in order to repay loans contracted with other banks or financial companies, shedding further light on the phenomenon of over-indebtedness, which traps households in a vicious circle in which difficulty in honouring loans leads them to turn to other institutions and renegotiate their position. One citizen out of five also needed to go into debt in order to pay for medical treatment, 21.6%, or to cover the costs of ceremonies such as weddings, confirmations, baptisms and similar events, 20%, while recourse to loans to pay for holidays is lower, 12.1%. Families composed of a couple of parents with children most often turned to banks to obtain a loan, 25.8%.
The use of the Internet, platforms and social media for guidance on investment and savings management is still in its infancy. Only 8.4% of Italians have purchased or used bitcoin and cryptocurrencies
Three behaviours were explored, representing three frontiers in the evolution of savings and investment management habits. The most widespread is following advice found online, from YouTubers or influencers on social media, discussion groups or forums, 14.7%. The use of platforms comparing capital accumulation plans, such as Moneyfarm, Scalable Capital, Fineco Replay and others, is limited to 9.5% of the sample, and few have purchased or used bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, 8.4%.
Social solidarity is scarce and distrust of others is widespread. In cases of economic difficulty, the vast majority of Italians, 82.2%, do not feel supported by institutions
A total of 65.8% of Italians believe that social solidarity in our country is scarce, 62.5% do not trust others, and as many as 82.2% believe that citizens are not adequately supported by institutions in cases of economic difficulty. Distrust is more deeply rooted among young people aged 18 to 24: they are the most likely to report little or no perception of social solidarity, 70.2%, and, together with those aged 25 to 34, they also have less trust in others, 66.8% and 67.6%, and in the help provided by institutions, 83.5% and 85.8%. The only positive signal concerns people one can rely on in cases of economic difficulty: 54% of Italians have such people. This is nevertheless not an excellent percentage, considering that 46% would be without support in the event of difficulty.
The crumbling middle class and the outlook for the pension system
The purchasing power of the Italian middle class has fallen by around 7.5% since 2021, according to the OECD, 2025. In 2023, the real income of households fell by 1.6%, while essential goods such as utilities, food and medicines increased above the inflation rate. The richest 10% of Italian households hold 59.9% of the country’s total wealth, while the poorest half holds just 7.4%. In 2024, the wealth of Italy’s 71 billionaires grew by 61.1 billion euros, an increase of 166 million euros per day, reaching a total of 272.5 billion euros. Around 43% of the Italian population does not pay personal income tax, Irpef; out of 42.6 million taxpayers, 9 million, 21%, declare zero net tax. A total of 76.87% of Irpef revenue is borne by just 11.6 million taxpayers. According to the OECD, the middle class includes those earning between 1,877 and 5,006 euros net per month. The most widespread household income in Italy is around 2,500 euros per month: most Italian households are therefore placed in the lower part of this bracket. The net wealth of Italian households fell by 5.5% over the decade 2014-2024; the middle class increasingly survives thanks to assets inherited from previous generations.
And while the strength of the middle class in supporting the country’s economy weakens, we are facing a problem of sustainability in the pension system. Total births have been steadily declining since 2004, reaching a historic low in 2024, with a reduction of 34% in twenty years. The Italian pension system is under pressure due to the simultaneous convergence of several dynamics that feed into one another. Birth rates are falling, the contribution base is shrinking, real wages are stagnating, irregular work is depriving the system of resources, and the most qualified young people are emigrating, taking with them human capital financed with public resources. Each of these dynamics, taken in isolation, would be manageable. Their combination produces a structural imbalance. Projections point to an improvement from 2040 onwards, but this is built on assumptions that current data struggle to support: productivity growth of 1.3% per year, a reversal in the birth rate, and a positive migration balance of 165,000 people per year. Meanwhile, the generations that contribute today face a concrete prospect: retiring at 70 with a pension equal to little more than half of their final salary. Interventions are needed that act simultaneously on several fronts: expanding the contribution base by combating irregular work, valuing migration flows as a stabilising factor for the labour market, reducing structural barriers to parenthood, and correcting gender asymmetries that every year deprive the system of millions of working days.
Smart working: a happy balancing act
For Italians, smart working appears as a form of balancing act, generally a happy one, between living spaces and autonomy, optimisation of resources — time and money — without completely giving up sociability, the distinction between spaces and certain habits that, for many, have now become part of working life. It remains to be seen how and to what extent the unstoppable irruption of Artificial Intelligence into daily life and the labour market will also influence the logistical organisation of work.
According to the Eurispes 2026 survey, 31.3% of the workers interviewed do smart working: 5.7% always, 8.7% most of the time, and 16.9% a minority of the time. Among smart workers, the hybrid mode prevails, alternating between working on site and working from home. Smart working is more frequently associated with flexible and self-employed work arrangements than with subordinate and stable employment, with 37.9% among VAT-registered self-employed workers and 33.7% among atypical contracts. A total of 87.1% of smart workers would like to continue working from home, mainly because of the positive aspects: management of family and domestic commitments, 82.7%, quality of life, 80.8%, and work organisation, 78.1%. If they could no longer work in smart working mode, 46% of workers would be sorry but would adapt, 28.8% would have no particular problems, 13.9% would leave their job or look for another job involving smart working, while for 11.3% it would be a positive change. Negative reactions, whether more or less drastic, therefore account for 59.9%, while positive or neutral reactions account for 40.1%.
Citizens and institutions: the President of the Republic is the only one among the most important institutions to enjoy full trust, 61.8%. Law enforcement and police forces, the Armed Forces and Intelligence remain highly valued, together with schools, universities and volunteering. Trust in the Church divides the sample in two
The results of the survey on the level of trust in institutions in 2026 point to continuity and stability, with percentages that replicate and overlap with those of last year. The President of the Republic, the Armed Forces and police forces, Intelligence, as well as schools, universities and volunteering, remain highly valued. By contrast, as in 2025, distrust emerges towards politics and political parties, but also towards Parliament, which should be the place where Italians feel most strongly represented. Overall, these findings support the idea that, in times of crisis, stability is prioritised as a form of defence. The President of the Republic is therefore the only one among the most important institutions to receive full trust, with 61.8% positive assessments. Far behind, Parliament is trusted by around one citizen in four, 26.1%, while the Government stands at 32.1%. Distrust of the judiciary reaches 46.5%, although citizens’ judgement is split in half, with 43.4% expressing trust. The Presidents of the Regions also fail to gather full consensus in citizens’ assessments, stopping at 41.2%.
With results similar to last year, law enforcement and the Armed Forces remain highly valued: the Carabinieri receive 70.2% approval; the Guardia di Finanza 71.7%; the State Police 66.8%; the Italian Army 71.9%; the Air Force 74%, compared with 77.4% in 2025; the Navy 73.6%; and the Coast Guard 71.1%. Intelligence also achieves a good result, with 63.5% of citizens expressing trust. The level of trust in the Fire Brigade is very high, reaching 85.8% in 2026. Trust in the Penitentiary Police falls compared with the previous survey, to 57.6% positive assessments, while the Local Police remains at 56.4%.
Among the other institutions considered, the assessment of universities, 73.7%, and schools, 68%, Civil Protection, 78.5%, volunteering, 64%, and the healthcare system, 58%, is positive and increasing, although generally moderate. Political parties grow in terms of trust but fail to exceed the 50% threshold of positive assessments, rising from 21.1% in 2025 to 25.7%; trade unions rise from 38.6% to 41.6%; and religious denominations other than the Catholic one rise from 31.1% in 2025 to 32.6% in 2026. Among the institutions experiencing a decline in trust are the Church, which falls from 52.6% to 50.3% in 2026; employers’ associations, from 42.5% to 40.7%; and the Public Administration, from 36.3% to 35.9%.
Italians call for greater powers for the President of the Republic for a more modern democracy
The survey collected citizens’ opinions on which measures could make our system work better and more efficiently. According to half of Italians, 50.3%, in order to live in a modern and efficient democracy, the President of the Republic should have more power — an opinion that confirms citizens’ attachment to this institutional figure. For more than one Italian in five, 22.9%, the figure who should have more power to make things work better is the President of the Council of Ministers, while for 17.1% it is the High Council of the Judiciary. These are followed by the President of the Senate, 4.9%, and the President of the Chamber of Deputies, 4.8%.
A total of 46.8% of citizens support the establishment of a Ministry for the South. The Southern question is still open, but in 10 years Italians have lost interest in the issue
For one Italian in four, 25.1%, the Mezzogiorno is a complex issue that must be addressed with a specific approach and tools, while more than one Italian in five, 21.8%, believes that establishing a management and control body would help restore transparency in the use of resources for the South. For 23%, establishing a specific body to address the North-South divide would instead be useless and burdensome for public spending, while 13.8% believe that the Southern question is not a priority for the country. Many, 16.3%, have no opinion on the matter. It can therefore be said that the share of citizens supporting the establishment of a Ministry for the South prevails, at 46.8%, although in 2016 this figure reached 54.7%. Ten years ago, more than one Italian in three, 37.2%, believed that the Mezzogiorno question was complex and required a specific approach with dedicated tools, such as an ad hoc ministry, a decrease of 12 percentage points. The share of Italians who believed that establishing a management and control body could restore greater transparency in the use of resources for the South was lower, 17.5%. The number of those who do not consider the Southern question a national priority has almost doubled, from 7.7% in 2016 to 13.8% today, while the share of Italians who believe that a Ministry for the South would be a waste of money has fallen by around 3 percentage points since 2016, from 26.4%.
The idea of establishing a Ministry for the Future, on the other hand, convinces 45% of Italians and is an option that is particularly attractive to the youngest respondents, aged 18 to 24, 63%.
The idea of investing in defence and rethinking the army and armaments does not convince Italians
A total of 44.2% of Italians consider resources allocated to defence to be a cost; by contrast, 32.1% see them as an investment, while a large share, 23.7%, do not know how to answer. Comparing these responses with those given to the same question in 2024, the share of those who see defence spending primarily as a cost has increased, from 36.2% to 44.2%.
The majority of Italians, 54%, view favourably the hypothesis of training volunteers who, if necessary, could be activated to support the Armed Forces; 46% respond negatively. By contrast, the possibility of reinstating compulsory military service for young people is opposed by a large majority of citizens, 63.2%, compared with 36.8% in favour. Three Italians out of ten support an increase in military spending to ensure adequate armaments for the country’s defence, 30.2%, compared with 69.8% opposed. Only 27.1% agree with the idea of compulsory recruitment for military service through legislation or extraordinary provisions, in view of the possibility of defending the country.
Two years later, the hypothesis of reinstating compulsory military service for young people, which was supported by half of citizens, now gathers the support of a more limited 36.8%. Citizens in favour of compulsory recruitment for military service through legislation or extraordinary provisions, in view of the possibility of defending the country, remain a minority, and the percentage has fallen further, from 38.1% in 2024 to 27.1%. Increasing military spending to ensure more adequate defence equipment, namely armaments, for the country was supported by more than 4 respondents out of 10 in 2024; now this has fallen to 3 out of 10, a decrease of 10.5 percentage points.
Views on the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Three quarters of citizens, 75.6%, consider the Russian invasion “unjustifiable”, while 24.4% take the opposite view. One fifth of citizens, 20.7%, consider the invasion “understandable”. Looking at future prospects and risks, the majority of Italians, 61.8%, do not believe that the invasion of Ukraine is a prelude to further Russian attacks in Europe, while 38.2% fear this. More than half, 52%, believe instead that it is a prelude to Russian expansionism into other territories.
A new world order
Italians were asked to express an opinion on the possibility of a “division” of the world into spheres of influence of the superpowers, namely the United States, China and Russia. The majority view this possibility negatively, 54.9%; 17% define it as “the lesser evil”; only 4.6% consider it positive; and almost one in four, 23.5%, do not know how to answer. Taken together, the responses show a predominantly negative assessment of a new order that foreshadows power games and violations of international law, as well as of the rights of sovereign states. However, for more than one fifth of the sample, there is also a sense that such a tacit agreement could reduce the risk of direct clashes between superpowers. The high number of those who do not feel able to provide an assessment also confirms the complexity of the dynamics under way and the lack of clarity.
Respecting NATO agreements in the event of an attack on a member country?
In the event that a NATO member country were attacked, more than half of Italians, 52.6%, state that Italy should remain neutral; one quarter say it should send troops and weapons to defend the attacked country, 25%; and 22.4% say it should send weapons in its defence. The sample is divided, with one half opposed to any form of support in the event of an attack, despite NATO membership explicitly providing for it, and the other half in favour either of aid exclusively in the form of weapons, or of weapons and troops. One citizen in four would consider it right to send Italian soldiers onto the ground.
Italians see Europe as an entity without unity
According to 64.4% of Italians, Europe is not united from the point of view of military defence; for 65.2%, it is not united in terms of economic policies either. The picture is even worse when considering the level of unity from a political point of view, 67.8%. Judgement improves only when the Union is considered from a commercial point of view, although the majority, 57.9%, still believe that there is no unity even in this respect.
Ethical issues: Italians’ opinions on end of life, assisted reproduction and surrogacy, adoptions, de facto couples and same-sex unions, soft drugs and prostitution
The Eurispes survey on ethical issues explores the perceptions and opinions of the population on some of the most relevant questions of our time. In 2026, 70.2% of Italians are in favour of euthanasia, compared with 66.7% in 2024, while support for euthanasia in cases of advanced senile dementia, if indicated by the person concerned in their advance directives, reaches 67.1%, compared with 65.7% in 2025. Living wills, introduced into the Italian legal system in 2018, are supported by 8 citizens out of 10, 80.2%. Assisted suicide receives the support of 54.3% in 2026, compared with only 39.4% in 2019.
Legal protection for de facto couples regardless of sex is viewed favourably by Italians, 69.6%, as is marriage between people of the same sex, 66%, a figure not dissimilar to 2025. Almost 6 Italians out of 10 agree with recognising the children of same-sex couples, 56.9%, slightly down from last year’s 58.1%. Just over one Italian in two is in favour of the possibility of adoption by same-sex couples, 55.2%, and by single people, 55.8%. This is an issue that over time is finding greater room for acceptance. Recognition of gender identities that do not identify with either female or male receives the support of just under half of Italians, 49.2%, compared with 51.1% in 2025.
The issue of heterologous fertilisation is particularly delicate: in 2026, almost 6 Italians out of 10, 59.2%, are in favour. At the same time, surrogacy is supported in 2026 by only 35.6% of Italians, compared with 64.5% who are opposed, recording the lowest figure, together with that of 2025, 35.5%, in the historical survey series for 2021-2026.
As regards the legalisation of soft drugs, hashish and marijuana, in 2026 fewer than one Italian in two is in favour, 46.1%, with a slight increase in favourable opinions compared with 2025, 42%; in 2022 the figure was 52.3%. The legalisation of prostitution is supported by half of the Italians interviewed, 50.3%. The data reveal a progressive closure on this issue compared with the recent past, when the topic met with the support of a wider share of the population: 57.7% in 2016 and as many as 65.5% in 2015.
Regulating access to social media for children under 15: Italians support new legislation. The issue of using AI to prevent juvenile deviance is divisive
The proposal to introduce in Italy a ban on the use of social networks for children under 15-16 years of age, following the model already adopted or being adopted in other countries such as Australia, France and Spain, receives broad and clear support among Italians: 78.9% are in favour, while 21.1% are opposed.
The issue of Artificial Intelligence for the prevention of juvenile deviance appears divisive, with 51.5% expressing a favourable position and 48.4% an unfavourable one. Among those in favour, the most widespread motivation is linked to the increase in juvenile crime, 20.7%, followed by the argument of protecting young people in contexts at risk, 15.7%, and enhancing the potential of technology for security purposes, 15.1%. On the opposing side, the most widely shared concern relates to the inadequacy of Artificial Intelligence in managing such a delicate issue, 26%; this is followed by doubts linked to the opening of a debate that would be difficult to resolve on the ethical aspects of controlling people, 12.3%, and concerns relating to privacy, 10.1%.
Digital technologies and health: only 18% use specific apps to monitor digital or mental well-being. In eight cases out of ten, devices are used in the hour before sleep and smartphones remain nearby at night in the bedroom in 77.5% of cases. Digital platforms show content aligned with users’ interests, but also influence opinions and moods
The survey on Italian citizens’ relationship with digital technologies first highlights that 88.8% of respondents are unable to clearly identify how much time they spend on online activities. Only 12.7% have adopted strategies to limit the use of digital technologies, while around 30% recognise the need to adopt self-regulation practices. Turning off notifications, 27.9%, is the most widely used strategy to limit technology use, followed by using timers or app usage limits, 27%, defining “device-free” moments, 16.7%, and digital detox, 11.6%. With regard to the use of specific apps to monitor digital well-being, 18.6% use them, while a similar share, 18%, also use apps to monitor mental well-being. The use of devices in the hour before sleep concerns 81.4% of respondents overall, and smartphones remain nearby at night in the bedroom, 77.5%, although in different ways. Almost a quarter keep them switched on with notifications active, 23.3%.
According to 71.7% of Italians who use them, platforms — social networks, video and music apps, news and shopping apps — mainly show content consistent with their interests. More than half, 56.3%, believe that platforms also offer new content capable of stimulating curiosity. Almost three people out of ten, 29.7%, believe that platforms influence opinions or moods.
Two groups were then identified: the first considers its relationship with technology problematic, while the second was defined as non-problematic. All the variables identified strongly characterise the first group: checking notifications upon waking, 56.5%; checking updates during the day even without notifications, 61.4%; the tendency to read group chats immediately, 50.9%; checking what acquaintances post, 44.6%; the importance attached to sharing one’s moods online, 29.4%; interrupting other activities to check notifications or updates, 45.2%; trying to reduce technology use without succeeding, 40.6%; and disconnecting without discomfort, 46.9%.
Among those who consider their relationship with technology problematic, more than half use their smartphone more than expected, 51.5%, whereas among those who do not perceive it as problematic, this behaviour concerns less than one third, 29.9%. The same applies to difficulty concentrating because of recurring thoughts about social media, around 40% compared with 15.7%, and feeling restless when unable to check the smartphone, 41.9% compared with 16%. Anxiety connected with signals of “functional dependency”, such as a low battery, is also more frequent, 44.2% compared with 23.9%, and awareness of the impact of technologies on one’s psychological well-being is greater, 36.7% compared with 13.1%. When using social media, 46.7% of the critical group, compared with 22.6%, has the feeling of being “outside the real world”; 50.2%, compared with 23.7%, feels the need to be constantly connected; 48.9%, compared with 27.3%, feels less lonely on social media; 49.3%, compared with 28.1%, finds them places where it is easier to express oneself and interact; and 33.2%, compared with 15%, feels inferior compared with the lives shown by others.
Between familiarity and distance: how Italians are redefining their relationship with Artificial Intelligence in a transitional phase
Italians’ relationship with Artificial Intelligence is not yet fully consolidated. Overall, 51.8% use it, but only 14.4% do so habitually. By contrast, 48.3% never use it.
Artificial Intelligence is widely used to request practical information, 81.3%, for work or study, 60.5%, and for leisure or games, 54%. Requests in the health field, such as medical advice and self-diagnosis, stand at 41.2%, while recourse to AI to address personal problems or support decision-making is 27.5%, followed by use for emotional or psychological support, 21.8%. AI is used above all to create texts, 70%, and to translate, 63.8%, but also for calculation and estimation activities, 57.9%, and to produce multimedia content, 50.9%. Language learning through virtual tutors is less widespread, 25.9%, and only 17.9% use AI to perform most of their work.
According to Italians, AI is useful, 62.7%, but needs regulation, 62.5%. While on the one hand it will simplify our lives, 51.1%, it is not certain that it will destroy creativity, with 48.4% in favour and 51.6% opposed. The fear of regretting its creation, 41.1%, and the work-related fear that it will steal our jobs, 39.6%, remain below the threshold of half of responses, while the idea of widespread progress across all sectors stops at 37%. Assessments of the impact that AI will have on respondents’ own professional sector indicate a limited impact in 40.8% of cases and, by contrast, a significant influence in 38.1% of cases.
Trust in Artificial Intelligence systems is positive only when it comes to text generation, 54%, while distrust emerges in relation to credit and investments, 65.9%, remote medical diagnoses, 71.1%, and personnel selection, 77.3%.
Cyberstalking: the most widespread offence, experienced online by almost three Italians out of ten
The experience of online victimisation outlines a picture in which harmful digital offences and behaviours involve significant shares of the population. Cyberstalking ranks at the top of the distribution, with 28.2% of citizens who use digital technologies declaring that they have experienced at least one episode, confirming it as the most widespread form of offence among those surveyed. This is followed by privacy violations, 19.7%, and attempted grooming through false identity in order to obtain a meeting, private photos and so on, 17.6% — two distinct phenomena in nature but united by a logic of manipulation and misappropriation of another person’s identity or image. Lower incidences are recorded for cyberbullying, 12.6%, and revenge porn, 9.8%. Comparison with data collected in 2024 highlights some significant changes: cyberstalking rose from an incidence of 14% in 2024 to 28.2% in 2026, an increase of 14 percentage points. A generational gradient emerges, running consistently through almost all types of victimisation, with the highest shares concentrated in the youngest age groups and progressively decreasing as age increases.
Tourism, the profile of the new traveller: people try to travel in low season towards less touristy destinations. Second homes belonging to grandparents and parents are a refuge for half of Italians, while collaborative forms of hospitality are less common. Trip duration is shrinking. Sixty per cent of Italians are against overtourism
The data collected by Eurispes in 2026 provide a detailed interpretation of Italians’ tourism behaviours. A total of 42.5% try to travel in non-tourist periods, “sometimes” or “habitually”, that is, in low season, away from holidays and long weekends, while 26.9% rarely use this option. A total of 41.7% choose less touristy destinations, and 28.6% do so, but rarely.
Destinations are chosen regardless of social media, 57.3%, although 21.9% “sometimes” or “habitually” visit places seen on social media, and regardless of the influence of TV series and fiction, 58.7%. Collaborative forms of hospitality concern, with varying frequency, 22.4% of those who travel. Many, however, use second homes belonging to grandparents or parents, 50.3%.
When choosing where to travel, personal curiosity is the prevailing motivation, 33.5%, followed by word of mouth from friends and relatives, 18.8%, and the desire to return to places where one has felt good, 12%. As for how trips are organised, 33.2% of Italians change their approach depending on the circumstances; 28.5% opt for independent organisation rather than using intermediaries, including travel agencies, 14.5%, and online platforms, 11.5%. Relying on Artificial Intelligence is still marginal, 2%.
The duration of stays is shrinking: 43% have reduced the overall duration of their trips and 40% have shortened their summer holidays. Winter holidays, excluding those who do not take them, 59%, remain another unmissable occasion: among all types of holidays, this is the one least reduced, 16.7%.
With regard to overtourism, almost 60% of Italians express a negative assessment, especially in large cities. Overall, however, 40.9% of respondents express a positive assessment.
Does living immersed in cultural heritage encourage residents to study?
The factor analysis conducted by Eurispes on 135 provinces related population data, cultural supply and use, and BES education indicators in order to measure whether there is a correlation between cultural concentration and the educational capital of territories. The state cultural system generates significant flows: 18.7 million visitors to museums and 31.5 million to archaeological areas in 2024, with revenues of 147 million euros for museums and 119 million euros for archaeological areas. Florence alone accounts for 6.05 million visits and 75 million euros in museum revenues. Rome concentrates 17.19 million visits and 36.6 million euros in archaeological area revenues. Central Italy absorbs 52% of national museum visitors, 9.76 million, with Tuscany accounting for 34% of the total. Lazio and Campania together gather more than 4 out of 5 visits and more than 4 out of 5 euros in archaeological revenues: an extraordinary concentration reflecting the weight of Rome and Pompeii-Herculaneum. In terms of education, the national picture shows both strengths and weaknesses. Participation in pre-school is very high, 95%, but 39% of students do not reach adequate levels in reading and 44% in mathematics. The NEET rate stands at 16%, graduates among 25-39-year-olds at 30%, and lifelong learning stops at 11%. The territorial gap in education is clear. In the North, young graduates account for 32-35%, NEETs around 11%, and adults with upper-secondary qualifications over 68%. In the South and Islands, NEETs rise to 24-27%, graduates fall to 23-25%, and inadequate mathematics skills exceed 50% in many provinces, such as Crotone, Caltanissetta and Naples. Lazio is the most significant case in the entire analysis: the point of maximum cultural concentration — Unesco hub, museums, archaeological areas — and at the same time among the strongest in terms of human capital. Rome records 42% young graduates, 78% adults with upper-secondary qualifications and 16% participation in lifelong learning, the highest values in the country. The final map shows Lazio, Tuscany and Campania as cultural outliers clearly separated from the rest. On the education factor, a compact cluster of Northern and Centre-Northern regions — Umbria, Friuli, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Lombardy and Marche — shows the highest educational capital. The regions of the Mezzogiorno, with the exception of Campania, are distributed around zero on both dimensions.
Tourism and exports affect territorial growth
Tourism and exports are economic indicators, but they are also mirrors of a territory’s well-being. The statistical analysis conducted by Eurispes on 137 Italian provinces shows that the places most capable of attracting foreign visitors and exporting their products to the world also tend to be those with higher employment, more widespread education, higher life expectancy and lower youth unemployment. The analysis identified six principal components, of which the first two are the most relevant and already allow the main profiles to be outlined. The first component, which can be defined as “The ambassadors of advanced economies”, is positively correlated with high values both for tourism and export variables and, at the same time, with life expectancy, upper-secondary graduates, university graduates, participation in lifelong learning, employment rate and electoral participation. In other words, it identifies those provincial territories with a high overall level of well-being and a strong vocation for international openness. These are contexts in which the three dimensions — tourism, exports and well-being — reinforce one another.
The second component, the “Attractors of territories in evolution”, differs because of an even stronger relationship with tourism and export variables, but also because of a positive correlation with negative social indicators such as NEETs, poor alphanumeric skills and lack of youth labour-market participation. It describes territories where international openness is growing strongly, but socioeconomic well-being is still in a consolidation phase: the outward push is present, but has not yet fully translated into improved living conditions for residents. The third component, the “Localists of well-being”, presents a positive relationship with education and broadband connectivity, but a weak link with tourism and exports: these are territories where well-being exists but has a predominantly internal dimension, less projected towards international markets. The fourth to sixth components instead capture more specific characteristics linked to the productive structure, total and youth employment, and other local factors, which can be identified as “productive territories”.
The regional distribution of scores on the components provides a clear map consistent with the country’s structural characteristics. The profile of the “Ambassadors of territories” is dominant in the regions of the North and Centre with a stronger manufacturing and tourism tradition: Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Trentino-Alto Adige and Tuscany. In these territories, tourism, exports and well-being are all high and harmoniously integrated: high employment, widespread education, life expectancy above the average, and active civic participation. The profile of the “Attractors in evolution” prevails in the regions of the Mezzogiorno and the Islands: Calabria, Sicily, Apulia, Sardinia and Campania. Here, there is real and significant growth in tourist flows and exports, but indicators of economic and social well-being — youth employment, education and access to credit — remain in a consolidation phase. The “local well-being” profile characterises some regions of central and southern Italy, Abruzzo, Molise, Basilicata, Umbria and Lazio, where well-being has a more internal dimension and is less oriented towards international markets. Lazio, however, shows some overlap with the fourth component, similarly to Liguria. Finally, regions with a strong productive vocation, such as Piedmont, Valle d’Aosta and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, are characterised by a prevailing orientation towards the economic and manufacturing structure, with a relationship with tourism and exports that is less dominant than other factors.
In 2026, the number of households with a pet is decreasing, down by 6.8 percentage points. Spending is mainly on food and veterinary care, and monthly spending on pets is concentrated in the 31-100 euro range, 57.9%
In 2026, just over one third of Italians have a pet, 33.7%, a decrease of 6.8 percentage points compared with last year. Dogs, 41%, and cats, 37.1%, are confirmed as the absolute protagonists in Italian homes. Monthly spending on animal companions is concentrated in the 31-100 euro range, 57.9%, although there are also those, 26.1%, who face monthly spending between 100 and 300 euros and above.
Spending is mainly on food, 50.8%, and veterinary care, 40.1%. For grooming, 58.4%, toys, 72.3%, clothing, 77.8%, and dog-sitting or boarding services, 75.9%, the clear majority of Italians spend less than 30 euros a year. A total of 16.3% of those with a pet have taken out health insurance, while one fifth, 19.9%, have taken out insurance for legal protection and civil liability.
Social sensitivity towards animals: vivisection, hunting, fur, circuses and intensive farming
A total of 81.9% of citizens say they are opposed to the use of fur, compared with 79.4% in 2025; 80.5% are opposed to the use of animals in circuses, compared with 76% last year; 78.7% are opposed to vivisection, unchanged from one year to the next; and finally 70% are opposed to hunting, compared with 68.3% in 2025. With regard to intensive farming for food use, 79.1% of Italians declare themselves opposed, compared with 71.4% in 2025.
Vegetarian and vegan Italians and the social representations associated with vegetarian eating
In 2026, 8.5% of Italians are vegetarian, 5.3%, or vegan, 3.2%. A further 4.9% say they have been so in the past. The majority of Italians are nevertheless omnivorous, 86.6%, although 20.5% state that they would be in favour of adopting a vegetarian diet, but fear they would not be able to put it into practice.
For 78.7% of Italians, being vegetarian is a choice to be respected, and 55.1% consider it an admirable choice that protects the environment and animals. By contrast, there is a share of Italians expressing negative views on this eating style and lifestyle: 31.4% say they consider it mainly a fashion; 31.2% think it may be accompanied by fanaticism and intolerance towards those who do not make the same choice; and 22.1% think it may be harmful to health.
Food supplements and other foods: junk food is very widespread among young people. The use of “free-from” foods has now become a habit even among those who do not need them
Among “special” foods, the most purchased are lactose-free products, 33.3%, of which 13.6% by people who are intolerant or allergic and 19.7% by those who are not, and sugar-free products, 31.5%, of which 4.7% by people who are intolerant and 26.8% by those who are not. These are followed by gluten-free products, 21.1%, of which 9.4% because of intolerance or allergy and 11.7% not; egg-free products, 19%, of which 3.7% by people who are intolerant or allergic and 15.3% not; and yeast-free products, 18.5%, with 13.2% using them despite not having allergies or intolerances. Compared with last year, consumption of “free-from” products has slightly increased, particularly lactose-free products, from 27.3% to 33.3%.
Italians who say they buy dried fruit and seed mixes sometimes, often or habitually account for 68.3%; 62.6% buy packaged and ultra-processed foods, and 64.4% also consume fizzy drinks, energy drinks and industrial fruit juices; 62.1% use food supplements; and 57% buy high-protein foods, such as bars, yoghurts, creams, desserts and drinks. The habit of consuming probiotics and prebiotics is less frequent, 49.5%, as is the consumption of seeds such as flax, sunflower, hemp and others, 48.4%, and foods containing cannabis, 21.9%.
Compared with all other age groups, the purchase of packaged foods is most widespread among the youngest respondents, aged 18 to 24, who eat them in 72.9% of cases: “sometimes” 37%, “often” 24.3%, and “habitually” 11.6%. The same percentage of young people buys packaged and ultra-processed foods, and 75.7% consume fizzy drinks, energy drinks and industrial fruit juices.
Almost 4 Italians out of 10, 36.6%, rely on qualified professionals in the field of nutrition, including nutritionists, other doctors or naturopaths, or on scientifically reliable sources, such as medical journals or scientific websites. By contrast, just over 2 Italians out of 10 do not turn to qualified health professionals to guide their nutritional choices, preferring instead non-specialist sources such as social media, websites without scientific validation, or informal advice from people close to them, with significant implications in terms of the reliability and quality of the information acquired.
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Ufficio Stampa Eurispes
ufficiostampa@eurispes.eu
