Censis Report 2025: for 30% of Italians autocratic regimes are better suited to governing today, for 81% it is time to tax/punish the giants of the web, 43.2% of pensioners regularly guarantee financial aid to children, grandchildren or relatives

The report is huge and it’s here: 59th Censis Report – Censis

the article from Il Sole 24 Ore

«We have entered a wild age, of iron and fire, of predators and prey. And the great political game changes its rules, now privileging challenge, now unlimited abuse. Therefore 62% of Italians believe that the European Union does not have a decisive role in global games. 53% believe that it is destined to be marginalized in a world where force and aggression win, rather than the law and authority of international bodies. For 74%, the American way of life is no longer a socio-cultural model, once to be imitated and today unrecognizable. Will we die post-Americans? 55% are convinced that the push for progress in the West has run out and now belongs to China and India. 39% believe that disputes between great powers can now be resolved through armed conflicts, the outcomes of which will set the boundaries of the new world order.” And finally: «30% share an unprecedented belief: autocracies are more suited to the spirit of the times». The photograph that emerges from the 59th Censis report, published on Friday 5 December, is, as usual, thought-provoking. The report is a sort of compass that helps to outline the characteristics of Italians in the current phase, characterized by security threats, starting with the international crises in Ukraine and the Middle East, and by increasingly complex challenges.

Record debt will crush welfare, tax web giants

With respect to the situation of public finances, «we are no longer the only sick person in Europe. A shock to European public finances similar to that experienced during the health emergency is announced. The huge debt and low growth, linked to aging and the reduction of the active population, combine to lead to an inevitable reduction in welfare”, is highlighted by Censis, which highlights the record Italian debt and the enormous interest expenditure (which “exceed the expenditure for hospital services and the entire value of public investments and amount to more than 10 times what Italy spends in a year on environmental protection”. Hence the conclusion of the reasoning: “Without welfare, societies become incubators of aggression and without social peace, democracies falter. For 81% of Italians it is time to punish the web giants who escape taxation.”

The long industrial autumn (and the antidote of rearmament)

The industrial production index has been negative for thirty-two consecutive months with the exception of three timid rebounds. In particular, manufacturing production fell in 2023 (-1.6%), in 2024 (-4.3%) and also in the first nine months of this year (-1.2%). Will the long industrial autumn slide into the freezing winter of deindustrialization? Among the sectors suffering the most, which ones risk disappearing forever? In 2024, only food recorded an increase in production: +1.9%. Textiles and clothing fell by 11.8%, means of transport by 10.6%, mechanics by 6.4%, metallurgy by 4.7%, pharmaceuticals by 1.7%. Only four sectors (electronics, food, pharmaceuticals, wood and paper) show signs of recovery in 2025. At the same time, in the first nine months of the year the manufacturing of weapons and ammunition recorded an increase of 31.0% compared to last year.

Eight out of ten Italians fear weak welfare

78.5% of Italians fear that, if they were not self-sufficient, they would not be able to count on adequate health and welfare services. The same goes for environmental risks: 72.3% believe that, in the event of extreme weather events or natural disasters, state financial aid would be insufficient. Consequently, the Censis report reports, 54.7% declare themselves willing to allocate up to 70 euros per month to protect themselves from the risk of non-self-sufficiency, damage linked to climate change or other adverse events. 52.3% believe they can restructure their consumption, reducing some expenses to allocate what they save to the purchase of insurance instruments (life, health, non-self-sufficiency). Availability, however, does not translate into concrete behavior: 70.0% of Italians are not doing anything on a financial or insurance level to protect themselves in the event of non-self-sufficiency. Only 10.7% say they are ready to resort to insurance policies to deal with this eventuality. The majority choose alternative solutions: 37.2% simply say that they will think about it if and when it happens, 34.5% will resort to savings, 22.0% will rely on public welfare, 19.9% ​​on help from family members, 14.7% on friends and volunteers.

Over 4 out of 10 pensioners help their children and grandchildren

43.2% of pensioners regularly provide financial aid to children, grandchildren or relatives. 61.8% have paid (or intend to do so in the future) a financial contribution to children or grandchildren to support important expenses, such as the down payment for the purchase of a house. On the other hand, 54.2% of Italians believe it is right to index pensions worth more than 2,500 euros gross to inflation: an idea that reflects the awareness that pensions are not excessive incomes, because they also provide support to children and grandchildren. Long-lived Italians appear sober in managing resources: 94.2% are cautious in spending and tend to save to deal with any illnesses or conditions of non-self-sufficiency, 89.7% declare themselves careful in managing their savings due to persistent economic uncertainty, 82.2% exercise accurate and constant control of the family budget, monitoring income and expenses. There is also the willingness of many elderly people to remain active even after retirement: 72.6% of current pensioners would like to be able to continue working, but without tax penalties.