(Finance) – “The five percent of the richest Italian families own approximately 46 percent of total net wealth”. This is what we read in the analysis of Bank of Italy within the ECB according to which “the main inequality indices remained substantially stablei between 2017 and 2022, after increasing between 2010 and 2016″. The new data was developed to support the ECB monetary policy strategy for 2021, which aims to include a systematic assessment of the two-way interaction between the distribution of income and wealth and monetary policy. The study highlights how less wealthy families can rely mainly on home ownership, which accounts for just under 75% (up from 70% in 2010), while wealthier families hold a more diversified portfolio in shares, deposits, policies .
The data shows that wealth has increased 29% in the last five years.
The families are divided into top five deciles of net wealth and in the poorest 50%, as well as on the basis of employment and housing status.
The report’s findings show that, in the euro area, the share of net wealth held by the richest 5% of households in the net wealth distribution decreased slightly between 2016 and the second quarter of 2023, although it still exceeded 43%. %. At the same time, median net wealth (i.e. the midpoint between minimum and maximum) has increased by around 40%. While the average wealth rises to 170 thousand euros from around 150 thousand in 2018.
The significant increase in the net wealth of euro area families, observed in the national accounts over the last five years (29% or around 13,700 billion euros) has been accompanied by a slight decrease in inequality, partly because homeowners, who represent more than 60% of the population, have benefited from the increase of house prices. Their net wealth (per household) increased by 27% over this period. At the same time, the net wealth of non-homeowners, who represent 40% of the population, grew by 17%, mainly due to the increase in deposits observed in this period.
Italy remains below the EU average as regards the distribution of wealth, in line with the values of France and below Germany, a country in which the degree of inequality in terms of wealth (not income) is more marked.