Italy faces significant regional gaps in nursery school availability

A report by the National Council for Economics and Labour (Cnel) reveals that nursery school availability in Italy covers only 31.6% of children aged 0 to 3. While the number of available places increased by 3.4% in the 2023/2024 academic year to approximately 378,500, a sharp geographic divide persists.

Coverage is highest in Central Italy at 40.4%, followed by the Northeast at 39.1% and the Northwest at 36.6%. In contrast, availability drops significantly in the South and on the Islands, where coverage reaches only 19% and 19.5%, respectively.

To address these disparities, the report calls for strengthened educational services and more balanced territorial distribution. Municipal spending on early childhood services reached 1.751 billion euros in 2023, representing a 68.9% increase since 2003.