Changing socio-demographic and regional patterns of living arrangements in Italy

Frank Heins, IRPPS.CNR, Rome

In this contribution the outcomes of demographic behaviour in terms of living arrangements and household types of the adult population in Italy are discussed. The demographic components are leaving the parental home (and its postponement), union formation (and its postponement), union dissolution (and its increase), fertility (lower and postponed), mortality (postponed), and mobility – interregional and international migration. A comparative static approach is followed to analyse the socio-economic – in the first place educational – differences. Recent population census and survey data are used to discuss the socio-economic characteristics of adult men and women and the different forms of living arrangements or household types – living with parents, living alone, living in a couple, living in a couple with children or living as a lone parent. Italy and most of Italian regions are characterized by late nest leaving and a late transition to autonomous living arrangements. Special attention is dedicated to the regional differences and their interaction with the socio-demographic and socio-economic differences in the living arrangements. The contribution provides a transversal analysis and the obtained results are read in a longitudinal prospective, even if living arrangements and household types do not follow predetermined courses over the lifespan of an individual. Various data sources are confronted: the population census of 2001, the yearly micro-census (indagine multi-scopo) and the labour force survey. The meaning of the socio-demographic variables in the various data sources is compared. To measure socio-demographic and socio-economic differences this contribution relies in the first place on the available information regarding educational attainment, but also alternative statistical information will be used. The results obtained for Italy will be compared to the situation in other European countries and, especially, to the situation in Germany.