In the following text I would like to discuss my group’s research about Sardinian economic situation. 

In particular we focused on 4 different aspects, that are the healthcare system, new technology field, migratory phenomena and, lastly, the publishing houses. We also collected several data from each field that I would like to explain after a general overview.

Sardinian labour force consists of 670,000 people. The unemployment rate, around 13.5%, is higher than the Italian average one (10%), as well as the percentage of inactive people (38.5% versus 35%).

The leading fields of the economy are real estate, trade, agriculture and tourism businesses; most of the enterprises are very small, with less than 10 employees.

The Covid-19 pandemy seriously hit the economy in Sardinia and brought at least 45,000 people to lose their work.

In order to present the fields, I will organise them from the weakest one to the strongest one.

The worst aspect we found is publishing. During the last 10 years almost a publishing house out of 5 closed; in the same period the labour force halved (now the employees in the field are 330). The reasons for the crisis go from lack of funds to bad transport infrastructures. Moreover there is no demand because just 38% of the population read books. Last but not least, the market is very “closed”: a book out of 5 is written in Sardinian language or shows photos about Sardinia, so that it is deeply connected to the territory and can hardly be sold abroad. As a result, Sardinian publishing houses are undergoing a hard period that can be overcome only with ad-hoc laws that support the development of infrastructures or that favour reading. The birth of Iglesias’ Books Fair in 2016 can be a starting point.

New-technologies field in Sardinia is very mixed. The D.E.S.I (Digital Economy and Society Index) gave Sardinia a score 28/100, highlighting low employment in the area and bad digitalization of industries. Considering the employment data, in ICT work just 1.48% of the regional labour force while the Italian average is 3.3%. The percentage of ICT industries is lower than in Italy too (7.3 out of 10,000 versus 10.4 out of 10,000).

However, there are also many strengths, such as the connectivity level: around 3 families out of 4 have an Internet connection in their houses. 

Furthermore, in 1990 Sardinian Technology Park was born. Nowadays it is one of the most developed structures in Italy for ICT research.

Considering the healthcare system, it is average compared to others in Italy.

Despite Sardinia’s spending for healthcare is very low (€ 1,885 per capita, the Italian average is € 2,470), the field is very efficient and gives work to almost 23,000 people, of whom 4,200 are doctors, that is the best data in Italy. There are interesting regional services too, such as the so-called “consultori”, centres that promote responsible procreation and help mothers and children in hardship. As a consequence, Sardinian abortion rate is one of the lowest in Italy. The weak points are the low number of nurses and technical sanitary personnel. The hope is that after Covid-19 diseases the situation will be improved.

As regards Sardinian migratory phenomena, the situation is very good. In 2019 migration and immigration flows were the same: around 4,000 people went out of the region while 4300 arrived. It is useful to notice that emigration decreased in the last 4 years; it is good news, because most Sardinian youth used to go abroad to get a job, so that there was not a turnover in the labour force.

Now just 3.5% of the regional population consists of foreign citizens, especially from Romania and Morocco; they are well-included in the society and most of them work.

In conclusion, I would like to express my opinion. As you can notice, Sardinian economy is very heterogeneous, with several strengths and weaknesses. My advice is to particularly improve publishing and technology, that are the fields more in difficulty. Recovery plans after Covid-19 troubles could be exploited to invest more for a faster development of the ICT area, as well as the creation of a publishing network could help the field. Healthcare’s situation is now being improved to solve old shortages.

Finally, greetings to Sardinia politicians for the management of migratory phenomena, that is the strongest field in Sardinian!