Life Expectancy at Birth (2019): 83.0
Maternal Mortality Ratio (per 100,000 live births) (2017): 2
Neonatal Mortality Rate (per 1,000 live births) (2020): 2
Probability of Dying from any of Cardiovascular Disease, Cancer, Diabetes, Chronic Respiratory Diseases Between Age 30 and Exact Age 70 (%) (2019): 9.0%

Neonatal Mortality Rate (Deaths Per 1,000 Live Births) (2019): 2
Infant Mortality Rate (Deaths Per 1,000 Live Births) (2019): 3
Under-5 Mortality Rate (Deaths Per 1,000 Live Births) (2019):
  Male: 3; Female: 3

Note: “Under-5 mortality rate – Probability of dying between birth and exactly 5 years of age, expressed per 1,000 live births.
“Infant mortality rate – Probability of dying between birth and exactly 1 year of age, expressed per 1,000 live births.
“Neonatal mortality rate – Probability of dying during the first 28 days of life, expressed per 1,000 live births.”

Source: United Nations Children’s Fund, The State of the World’s Children 2021: On My Mind – Promoting, protecting and caring for children’s mental health, UNICEF, New York, October 2021.

“Despite the sharp decline in life expectancy of more than one year caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 people in Italy continued enjoying one of the highest life expectancies in the EU (Figure 1). Before the pandemic, gains in life expectancy had slowed considerably between 2010 and 2019, particularly among women (increasing by only about one year between 2010 and 2019 compared with about two years in the previous decade) but also to a lesser extent among men. While the causes of this slowdown are not fully understood, it was in part related to an increase in mortality rates from some respiratory diseases among older people.

“Preliminary estimates show a loss of 1.2 years in life expectancy between 2019 and 2020. This was higher in the north of Italy compared to the centre and the south and islands, as COVID-19 predominantly affected the northern part of the country.”

Source: OECD/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (2021), Italy: Country Health Profile 2021, State of Health in the EU, OECD Publishing, Paris/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels.

“Although less pronounced than in most other EU countries, inequalities in life expectancy by socioeconomic status are still significant in Italy. As shown in Figure 2, 30-year-old men with lower levels of education live on average 3.6 years less than those with the highest level. This longevity gap by education is smaller among women, at about 1.5 years. These gaps can be explained at least in part by differing levels of exposure to various risk factors and unhealthy lifestyles, including higher smoking rates and poorer nutritional habits among men and women with lower levels of education.

“Geographical inequalities in life expectancy remain significant in Italy. In 2019, life expectancy for women born in the southern region of Campania was 2.7 years lower than that of women born in the northern autonomous province of Trento. Men born in Campania were expected to live 2.2 years less than men born in the central region of Umbria. The gap in geographical inequalities narrowed slightly between 2010 and 2019, and is expected to have narrowed even more in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic had a greater impact on the northern regions.”

Source: OECD/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (2021), Italy: Country Health Profile 2021, State of Health in the EU, OECD Publishing, Paris/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels.

“Mortality in Italy is significantly higher among those with a lower education level, the most common proxy of socioeconomic position. According to data from cohorts followed from 1999 to 2007 and 2011, the most disadvantaged subset of the population are women aged between 24 and 64 with the lowest education level, whose mortality rate is twice as high as same-aged women with the highest education level. Moreover, the mortality rate for all cancers is twice as high in adults aged between 25 and 64 of both genders with the lowest educational level compared with the same-aged adults with the highest educational level. Comparison with similar studies in other European countries has shown that the results observed for young women are comparable to northern Europe, while those for cancer-specific mortality among adults are similar to those observed in other southern European countries (ISTAT, 2012a). Risk factors such as being overweight or obese and smoking status are also markedly associated with education level, with a disadvantage for the youngest age groups and those with lowest education (ISTAT/Cnel, 2013).”

Source: Ferré F, de Belvis AG, Valerio L, Longhi S, Lazzari A, Fattore G, Ricciardi W, Maresso A. Italy: Health System Review. Health Systems in Transition, 2014, 16(4):1–168.

Health Systems Facts is a project of the Real Reporting Foundation. We provide reliable statistics and other data from authoritative sources regarding health systems in the US and sixteen other nations.

Page last updated Sept. 16, 2022 by Doug McVay, Editor.