ROMA – In 2023 there will be 4.9 million Italians – 8.4% of the population over 16 – who could not afford a complete meal every two days. The impossibility of eating outside the home with relatives or friends at least once a month affected 2.9 million people, i.e. 5.8% of Italians over the age of sixteen. An increase of one percentage point in material and social deprivation rates – 500 thousand people for each index – compared to 2022 and a reversal of the trend after years of decline. Food aid distributed in the last 5 years has also increased by 40%. These are the data contained in the fifth report on food poverty ActionAid“The numbers of food poverty in Italy starting from official statistics” which analyzes food poverty in our country starting from its intensity, diffusion and regional distribution. Food poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon influenced by education, housing conditions and access to the labor market and has serious material and psychological consequences on adults and children.
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Food poverty is growing again. Material food deprivation means the inability to eat a full meal of meat, chicken, fish or a vegetarian equivalent at least once every two days; the social one is not being able to afford to eat out with friends or relatives at least once a month. In Italy, between 2019 and 2022, material food deprivation fell from 9.9% to 7.5%, while social food deprivation fell from 6.9% to 4.8%, a result to which measures such as the Citizenship Income introduced starting from 2019. However, in 2023, their diffusion increased by approximately 1 percentage point, reaching 8.4% – 4.9 million people over 16 years – due to material deprivation and for the social one 5.8% – 2.9 million Italians.
Each item rises by approximately 500 thousand units. In fact, in 2022 there were 4.37 million (7.5% of the population aged at least 16 years) for material deprivation, while there were 2.4 million (4.8%) for social deprivation. This worsening reflects the growing vulnerability of Italian families, aggravated by the erosion of purchasing power and the insufficiency of the policies adopted to combat the phenomenon. Italy is still below the European average: the EU records an incidence of material food deprivation of 9.5% and social food deprivation of 7.8%.
In 5 years +40% of food aid in Italy. Between 2019 and 2023, the number of those receiving FEAD (European Aid Fund for the Most Deprived) food aid through third sector bodies located throughout Italy increased by 40%, going from 2.08 million to almost 2.91 million of beneficiaries (Ministry of Social Policies and Labor data). This increase concerned all Italian regions with the exception of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. For example, in Sicily there was an increase of 70%, while in Lombardy the increase was more moderate (+25.3%) factors such as restrictive access criteria, social stigma and logistical barriers can lead to an underestimation of real need. Confirming this, for example, in 2022 9.6% of the population lived in absolute poverty, but only 4.9% received food aid. This gap between absolute poverty and the share of beneficiaries of the FEAD it is more marked in the North than in the South. As in Piedmont where, compared to 7.1% of people living in absolute poverty, only 3.6% benefited from the FEAD, this is also the case in Lombardy and Veneto.
Rome tops the ranking of aid distributed. Leading the 2023 absolute ranking for aid distributed is Rome with 152,572 people, followed by Palermo with 115,796, in third place Catania with 81,699; in fourth place Naples and its 73,609 beneficiaries, Milan is fifth with 62,157, Turin saw 49,713 people requesting food parcels, Genoa just below with 43,138, Reggio Calabria in eighth place with 31,341, Florence in ninth with 21,452, finally Bologna in tenth with 20,195 people.
The situation in Northern Italy. In 2023, the cities of Catania (27.4%), Reggio Calabria (18.5%) and Palermo (18.4%) have the highest rates of beneficiaries compared to the resident population. On the contrary, in the cities of the Centre-North, access to food aid appears less consistent. Milan and Rome, although they have a high absolute number of beneficiaries (over 62 thousand and 152 thousand respectively), show relatively low percentages: 4.5% and 5.5% of the resident population. Venice, with a percentage of beneficiaries of 3.1%, is the city with the lowest rate among those analysed.
The main challenges to face. “Measurement and intervention approaches represent the main challenges in the fight against food poverty in Italy – says Roberto Sensi, head of the Food Poverty Program ActionAid Italy – official statistics show a worrying reality: a growing part of families, especially in the last year, is at risk of not having access to sufficient and adequate food, while a further share is at risk of finding themselves in the same situation. While food aid has increased, especially following the pandemic, it remains a necessary but insufficient response. This is because, despite addressing emergencies, they are unable to resolve the structural causes of food poverty.”
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