Italian financial literacy lags behind developed nations, showing high inequality and vulnerability to scams.
🔗 Read the article on ilsole24ore.com
[This is an automatically generated summary, for reference only]
Italy exhibits low financial literacy compared to industrialized nations, leading to significant social inequalities impacting savings, planning, and susceptibility to fraud. While improving slowly, Italian financial education remains below the average for developed countries, which is concerning given Italy’s economic standing. Recent data shows only 44.3% of Italians meet the OECD’s sufficient financial literacy standard, with a previous survey indicating only 37% understand basic concepts like inflation and compound interest. Financial illiteracy is widespread across the country based on gender, age, education, and income levels. Financial education has recently been introduced into school curricula but in limited hours, relying heavily on voluntary efforts from teachers and external organizations. Despite awareness campaigns, their impact remains low. Engaging adults is particularly challenging due to risks like high costs and financial scams; last year, 900,000 Italians were victims of financial fraud. In contrast, countries like Croatia are implementing national strategies with measurable improvements in literacy, though behavioral changes lag. Spain shows widespread self-perceived lack of money management skills, despite having integrated financial education into its curriculum since 2014, yet PISA scores show declining competence among teenagers. Greece suffers from low financial literacy exacerbated by structural issues like low wages and a lack of dedicated secondary school subjects. Bulgaria has national strategies and private initiatives but struggles with vulnerable populations falling into debt traps due to poor knowledge, and capital market participation remains low.
