Overview

• Only about one in three young Italians hold a university degree versus roughly half across the OECD, and graduates receive a smaller earnings premium of about 33% compared with the OECD average of 54%.
• Low literacy is widespread, with 37% of adults understanding only very short, simple texts and 16% of graduates classified as having low literacy, both above OECD averages.
• Investment lags peers, with total university and research spending near 1% of GDP and public outlays around 0.6%, while the population aged 0–4 fell by 25% from 2013 to 2023.
• Primary teachers’ real pay fell 4.4% over the past decade as OECD peers rose 14.6%, and primary teachers earn roughly 33% less than other full‑time graduates versus a 17% OECD gap.
• Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara reports school dropout down to 9.8% and allocates €500 million to Agenda Sud and Agenda Nord, drawing criticism from unions and opposition over adequacy.