Mapping Regional Disparities in Health Outcomes and their Determinants : The Two Italies

This paper provides an overview of the new dynamics of health outcomes in Italyand is chiefly aimed at mapping the longstanding geographical disparities among theNUTS 1 macroregions. We start the analysis by presenting an extensive literature reviewon health capital accumulation and classical health determinants, namely incomeand education. We then shift attention to a descriptive analysis of the most recentavailable data on regional life expectancy, GDP, and different levels of educational attainment.Findings suggest that the Italian economy is still characterized by a sharpdichotomy between the North and the South, confirming the existence of “two Italies”.If such discrepancies are not properly taken into account by central governments whendesigning public policies, further inequality may be created