The European Research Centre (CER) and tsm – Trentino School of Management elaborated a study that analyses how altitude has influenced the regional development in Italy. La montagna perduta. Come la pianura ha condizionato lo sviluppo italiano (The lost mountains. How the lowlands have conditioned Italian growth) analyses a vast amount of statistics collected from 1951 to recent years, for determining the trends in the population, economy and infrastructures in the different Italian regions.
The study shows that despite the fact that the Italian population has grown by about 12 million over the past 60 years, mountains have lost around 900 thousand inhabitants. Growth has been concentrated in the lowlands (8.8 million inhabitants) and hilly areas (approx. 4 million). The regions Trentino-Alto Adige and Valle d’Aosta whose population has grown, are the two exceptions to the depopulation trend. The study correlates the general life conditions (general state of infrastructure, access to public services- health, education, transport) with the population growth of these two regions.
For more information on the study click here and here
10 March 2016
