The now historic survey on quality of life conducted annually by Il Sole 24 Ore has yielded satisfactory results for both the provinces of Treviso and Belluno. In fact, the former ranked sixth in the national ranking of 107 provinces, gaining 18 positions compared to the previous year, while Belluno reached 33rd place, climbing 12 places in the ranking compared to 2024.
Certainly, these findings depend on the indicators that are taken into consideration, both in the assessment of the various aspects of quality of life and in their integration to arrive at a single score for each province, but the consolidated experience in the structure of the survey and the numerous indicators examined lead us to assign an overall and substantial quality of life to the inhabitants of our two provinces. In fact, the survey was carried out with reference to six general thematic aspects that make up people’s lives (1 – Wealth and consumption; 2 – Business and work; 3 – Demographics, health, and society; 4 – Environment and services; 5 – Justice and security; 6 – Culture and leisure), and then each aspect was analyzed using 15 specific indicators (of equal weight) to assess its overall intensity, assigning a score out of 1,000 that takes into account the different distances between provinces. Finally, the overall value of the quality of life in each province represents the arithmetic mean of the six thematic scores, i.e., the result of an assessment of 90 specific indicators.
In order to effectively ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of the two provinces’ excellent ranking, it is therefore important to check the individual positions in the thematic categories and the areas of excellence (or, conversely, serious shortcomings) in the indicators, bearing in mind that only the top 5 and bottom 5 provincial positions were reported for the latter.
The results for the province of Treviso
Starting with the theme of Wealth and Consumption, the province of Treviso ranks 24th (again out of a total of 107 provinces). This is not a very impressive result, especially since the per capita added value is not as high as elsewhere, partly due to the current economic trend, with numerous divergences between the different sectors.
However, the area ranks fifth in terms of the lowest percentage of households with a very low ISEE (Equivalent Economic Situation Indicator, which calculates economic and financial status), meaning that, proportionally, there are few poor people. However, it should also be noted that the inequality between the highest and lowest incomes is very high, indicating a certain degree of social instability, despite the small number of poor people. Evidently, the lack of income affects people just above the poverty line the most.
As far as business and employment are concerned, Treviso’s position does not change much, as it ranks 28th. In the 15 indicators relating to this category, there are no particularly significant rankings for the province, either positive or negative. Clearly, we are no longer at the end of the last century or in the early 2000s, when Treviso’s economy was among the best in Italy and its industrial districts also excelled at European level. Subsequently, strong competition from developing countries and the relocation of many local companies have significantly reduced the region’s performance.However, there are still some very active and advanced district forces, while numerous small and medium-sized enterprises continue to grow, maintaining some sectoral records. However, in terms of overall production, there are no striking results, due to the fact that the excellence of some activities is offset by the modest results of others.
Moving on to the Demographics, Health, and Society domain, Treviso’s ranking is better, occupying 15th place in the national ranking. Here we discover two unknown areas of excellence: Treviso ranks first in life expectancy at birth (with an average of 84.9 years) and in avoidable mortality (with only 14.1 cases of mortality that could have been avoided per 10,000 residents under the age of 74). The two indicators are linked and reflect good overall health and effective prevention and healthcare for the population, despite the unfavorable location of the area due to widespread industrialization and the notoriously unhealthy climate of the Po Valley. We can therefore conclude that, all other factors being equal, people in our province live longer and receive better healthcare, even though there are structural problems in the national public health system.
This excellence was also confirmed in a separate survey carried out by the same newspaper to assess a gender equality index. Treviso achieved an excellent ranking (eighth place in the overall ranking), but within this composite index, the national record for life expectancy at birth for women in Treviso emerged (reaching an absolute record of 87 years!).
The fourth aspect, Environment and Services, highlights the Marca area even more at the top, as the national ranking places it in second place, after Brescia.
In fact, among the various specific indicators, Treviso maintains its leadership in separate urban waste collection, as it has done for some time, while occupying second place in quality of life for the elderly (after Bolzano) and (unexpectedly) also in the density of photovoltaic systems (after Padua) with 520.5 systems per 10 square kilometers in the capital. This last positive finding is particularly significant, as it demonstrates our region’s greater sensitivity to environmental improvement and energy independence coming from the bottom up (from families and small businesses), in the absence of significant public subsidies.
This is particularly commendable and thus protects the population from future disasters and pollution itself, even if we cannot save ourselves from the negative effects of global warming and, in any case, the demand for renewable energy is still much greater than the plants built so far.
In terms of justice and security, Treviso ranks 10th in the rankings and stands out in particular (ranking 5th) for the low number of reports (21.5 per 100,000 inhabitants) of drug-related crimes. This means that, at least for this type of crime, the situation in our province is good, while its ranking in other indicators (crime rate, theft, litigation, etc.) can be considered satisfactory overall compared to other provinces.
On the other hand, the ranking for culture and leisure is certainly not favorable, as it places the Treviso area in 61st place. Although the indicators are very varied (from museums to restaurants, sports facilities, entertainment, and so on), Treviso stands out negatively, especially in terms of bookstores (3.8 per 100,000 inhabitants).
Obviously, this cannot be attributed solely to a lack of reading among the population, or to a lack of interest among entrepreneurs in the book trade. The fact remains that, with the expansion of digital media, books have lost much of their appeal, but a general assessment that print media continues to be important is still valid. In fiction, precisely in order to obtain copyright, the best modern works must inevitably be published in book form; in non-fiction, despite the publication of a great deal of knowledge and information online, the most in-depth and authoritative content can only be found in books.
In conclusion, an overall assessment of the data shows that our province has lost its former economic primacy, even though its position relative to the rest of Italy remains satisfactory. However, to compensate for this, it has achieved a significant improvement in both social and environmental terms, and this fact makes it more attractive than ever to new businesses and people from outside the province, as well as promoting internal development. If this happens, socio-environmental parameters can be further improved with new targeted investments which, as stated in previous articles, will also herald new economic growth.
The results for the province of Belluno
The good overall ranking noted at the beginning of this article also for the province of Belluno showed an even better position (14th) in the ranking relating to wealth and consumption, higher than Treviso’s 24th place. This means that, despite the area being sparsely populated and poorly industrialized, per capita wealth is higher, evidently due to the prevalence of activities with greater added value, including mountain tourism, which is rapidly and continuously expanding, especially since the Dolomites were recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In fact, the province enjoys two national records: the lowest number of families with low ISEE (Equivalent Economic Situation Indicator) and the lowest inequality between net incomes. This is therefore a balanced economic growth, which has not concentrated earnings in the hands of a few and therefore does not create social tensions, thus allowing for sustainable development that will continue to produce effects in the future. Of course, in order to achieve such favorable results, there have also been disadvantages, the most obvious of which is inflation, which has led Belluno to third-last place in Italy for the highest rate of price increases (2.5%, compared to the national average of 1.5%).
However, the Business and Work category was less flattering for this province, as these activities placed it in 52nd place. In particular, the following factors had a negative impact: the number of hours of layoffs per registered company (the highest in Italy) and the number of old-age pensions in relation to the population (fourth from last). However, there was also an area of excellence here, with 5th place in the share of exports in GDP (a good 59%).
The Demographics, Health, and Society category was also unfavorable for Belluno, which ranked 61st. In this section, however, there were no peaks in the various indicators, either positive or negative.
The situation was better for Environment and Services, with Belluno ranking 29th. Again, there were no cases of excellence or serious demerits, but it should be noted that the modest population density in the area could lead to better results from an environmental point of view. If this has not happened, it is partly due to the phenomenon of tourism, which in the winter and summer months crowds the beautiful but ecologically fragile resorts. Certainly, we are not yet at the levels of overtourism that plague more traditional tourist centers, but we already need to think about managing flows that will become increasingly significant in the future.
Belluno’s ranking improves significantly in the Justice and Security category, occupying eighth place. Evidently, less populated areas have lower crime rates and a more efficient justice system. In fact, its fifth place ranking in terms of fewest reports of snatch thefts (only two cases per 100,000 inhabitants) is exemplary. On the contrary (and unexpectedly), Belluno ranks 104th for computer fraud and scams (with 716.8 reports per 100,000 inhabitants).
Finally, in terms of culture and leisure, the province ranks 29th, standing out in various indicators. First of all, the percentage of protected areas is emblematic (2nd place with 53.5% of the territory), a sign of due attention to a territory that needs to be protected naturally and enhanced, but the index of daily and periodical newspaper readership is also important (4th place), as is the excellent index that sees Belluno in fifth place in terms of the presence of non-profit organizations (99.4 units per 10,000 inhabitants). monthly magazines, and periodicals (4th place) and the excellent index that sees Belluno in fifth place in terms of the presence of non-profit organizations (99.4 units per 10,000 inhabitants).
We can therefore conclude that Belluno also performs very well in terms of the various factors that contribute to quality of life and does not reflect the image of an area lagging behind in development, as it has been portrayed for a long time in the past. On the contrary, in terms of economic indicators, it ranks highest thanks to balanced growth that has spread more evenly throughout the territory, creating incomes that are not excessive but significantly reducing endemic poverty and thus surpassing even provinces that are notoriously richer.
The potential expansion of tourism, together with many related activities still to be implemented, offers further opportunities for development in the tertiary sector and, therefore, employment prospects in a virtuous cycle of full and decent employment (which is precisely the goal of Target 8 of the 2030 Agenda, the most effective way to pursue socio-economic development).
