Translated automatically by AI from the Italian original.
PALERMO – An alarming socio-economic picture that confirms the progressive impoverishment of the middle class and the vertiginous rise in inequality. This is what emerges from the report of the new Observatory on Household Wealth, produced by the Fiba Foundation of First Cisl, which analyses the decade between 2015 and 2025.
Following the experience of the Observatory on banking desertification, the banking workers’ union has developed a further socio-economic analysis to monitor the health of savers and the repercussions on the country’s stability.
Italy second-to-last in Europe for gross savings: concentration in the hands of a few
The data highlights a veritable collapse in Italians’ historically strong propensity to save. Over the decade in question, Germany and France recorded increases in savings capacity of +53% and +30% respectively, compared with a modest +19% for Italy.
The repercussions on the European rankings are ruthless:
- Net wealth per household: Italy slides from 4th place in 2015 to 9th place in 2025.
- Net wealth per capita: This also drops from 3rd to 9th place.
- Gross savings rate: Italy plummets from 7th place to second-to-last in Europe, just above Greece.
Compounding the social fracture is the data on wealth distribution: the top 5% of savers hold over half (50.2%) of the entire national wealth.
Sicily worst for consumer credit: Fabio Sidoti’s warning
If the national picture raises serious concerns, the Sicilian regional context presents even more complex outlines. The situation on the island is assessed by First Cisl Sicily’s General Secretary, Fabio Sidoti.
“In Sicily the situation is even more serious,” Sidoti stresses. “Employment quality far from acceptable standards and reduced purchasing power force many families to dip into their savings to cover current expenses. Once private savings are exhausted, the inevitable recourse is to consumer credit, a sector in which Sicily leads the country.”
The proposal: a National Fund for the real economy
Faced with the paralysis of public resources oppressed by sovereign debt, First Cisl forcefully relaunches the proposal put forward by the national General Secretary, Riccardo Colombani: the establishment of a National Fund for Investment in the Real Economy.
The initiative aims to tap into, with state guarantees, a portion of private savings and pension funds to channel fresh resources towards businesses and the country’s strategic infrastructure projects. The operation is designed to move beyond purely speculative financial logic and promote a new development model capable of revitalising Italy’s production and social cohesion.
