In the city of six universities there is the lowest number of graduates in Italy. «As regards first and second level tertiary education – we read in the report of the municipal Observatory “Economy and Society” the source of the data is Istat – the Campania capital holds a negative record compared to other large Italian cities: only 15.8% of the population in 2021 obtained a tertiary education qualification, approximately half the value recorded in Milan and Bologna”.
By tertiary qualification we mean the classical degree but also the qualifications of the so-called “applicative universities” that are very popular in Europe because they offer shorter and more practical courses and even shorter and more applicative courses to train qualified profiles of a technical or clerical nature. In our parts, but in general in the country, the last two types are rare. It remains “The negative primacy of Naples” to reflect on because the wind of economic recovery will stop blowing soon if it is not fueled by professionals who are in step with the times.
The data refers to 2021 but the trend has not changed: only 15.8% of Neapolitans in 2021 obtained a tertiary education qualification, approximately half the value recorded in Milan and Bologna. In the Lombard capital the percentage of graduates is 30.3%, in Bologna 30.6. In Rome 25.6%. But if you go further south Palermo and Bari have done the same better than Naples. In Palermo the graduates are 16.7% in the capital of Puglia it reaches 19.2%.
Looking at the glass with a few drops of water in it, we can say that in 2011, that is 10 years ago, the percentage of graduates was 15.8%, so there was a growth of one point, but in Milan and in the rest of Italy the growth was at least 5 points. There are several questions to be answered: for example, is the resistance to graduation because Neapolitan universities offer courses that are not very attractive and appealing compared to the world of work? Or because the group of potential graduates does not have the economic means to support their studies? This second question finds an answer if we look at the neighborhoods of the city in which the graduates are located.
Municipalities 1 and 5, namely Chiaia and Vomero, where the per capita income is highest – the report states – are made up of more than 30% people with a tertiary education qualification. In all other areas of the city the percentage of graduates does not reach 20% and in the north-eastern suburbs corresponding to municipalities 6, 7 and 8, i.e. the eastern and northern areas between Secondigliano and Scampìa the value does not exceed 10%. Only four out of ten municipalities exceed the quota of graduates calculated for the entire municipal territory». The two cities mirror each other: the one that can and the one that cannot aspire to take the social elevator.
Istat data speak of an aging Naples. In Naples the 2011 census recorded a population of 962,003 inhabitants in 2022 it dropped to 917,510. It is the third most populous city in Italy, after Rome and Milan. Although in this time frame «Rome, Milan, Bologna, Florence and Bari record positive values while the municipality of Naples records the most intense loss of resident population, almost a 5% reduction» is explained in the report which continues as follows: «The loss of inhabitants concerns, to varying degrees, all the city areas. The most significant reduction (9%) is instead recorded in the northern suburbs (Municipality 8); Pianura-Soccavo (Municipality 9) and Bagnoli-Fuorigrotta (Municipality 10) also lose 7% of their inhabitants.
The neighborhoods belonging to municipalities 1, 2, 3 and 4 are attesting to a decrease between 2 and 3%». The average age is 43.5 years. «The old age index data are always those of Istat – calculated as the ratio between the population over 65 and the population under 15 is merciless: there are 152.6 elderly people per 100 young people, a value although lower than that calculated for the main Italian cities. There are therefore not very many young people but there are numbers that explain how the scarcity of the university population is probably due to exogenous issues and not only to the data of the mere old age index. Speaking of young people, other numbers explain the demographic dynamics: in the age between 0 and 18 years there are 166,240 with females being more than males. Young people between 15 and 34 years represent 22.8% of the population. Net of the phenomenon of “brain drain” and youth migration.
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