BRUSSELS – The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has found Italy to have the worst regional economic disparity of all its 34 member states.

  The finding is based on an extensive study carried out by the OECD on the regional economic differences within its member states. The study examined numerous factors including market growth, job availability, access to health, education, government investment, security and infrastructure.

  On paper the extent to which the disparity between Italy’s rich and poor regions exist make them almost appear as entirely separate nations. Campania is one of Western Europe’s poorest regions, teetering in the bottom one per cent in terms of job markets and income of all OECD nations. This stands in stark contrast to Italy’s wealthy regions, such as the Northern, largely German speaking region of Bologna, which is stands strongly in the top 15 per cent economically of OECD members.

  The Western regions of Italy such as Lombardy, Veneto, Piedmont and Trentino-Alto Adige all score in the very top of OECD nations in terms of quality of life, access to internet and access to health and human services. The Southern regions of Italy on the other hand such as Campania, Calabria and Sicily, generally have double the average unemployment rate and far less then adequate access to basic human services. Trento is one the highest scoring in the OECD for security, while Calabria has a score that places it in the bottom 20 per cent. Sardinia has the very best score for maintenance and protection of the environment in the OECD, whilst Lombardy has the very worst.

  Of all the factors taken into account, perhaps the darkest indicator of Italy’s current state was the OECD’s analysis of its education system. Lazio had the very highest scores in Italy in terms of provision of, and quality of education, but was still in the lowest OECD percentile.