The official site of Italy's central bank

No. 161 – Main results of the Household Finance and Consumption Survey: Italy in the international context

The paper presents the main results of the Eurosystem's Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) with an emphasis on the data for Italy in the international context. The paper examines households' socio-demographic characteristics, assets and income distribution, participation in real and financial assets and indebtedness levels. The results for Italy reveal a mean household gross income below the euro-area average. The concentration of income in Italy is roughly positioned at a median position, while the index of relative poverty is comparatively high. Among the main countries of the euro area, Italy shows the same average level of net worth per capita of Spain and slightly higher levels than those of France and Germany, in line with the high savings rates that characterized Italian households over the last few decades, although this trend has decreased in recent years. Finally, Italy shows the lowest percentage of indebted households.