2025 marks worst year for Veneto Region ‘Brain Drain’ crisis

VENICE -After decades of decline, Veneto may be approaching what many observers fear could be a point of no return in its graduate ‘brain drain’ crisis. Amid a lacklustre government response, the region now risks losing an entire generation to emigration. 

In December, the National Council for Economics and Labour (CNEL) released a stark report, Italy’s Attractiveness to Young People from Advanced Countries, laying bare the scale of the country’s youth exodus and its mounting economic and social costs. The findings confirm what many young graduates already feel: Italy is failing to offer the opportunities, wages and working conditions that keep talent at home and attract it from abroad.

Presenting the report, CNEL President Renato Brunetta warned of a ‘progressive decline in the youth population’, driven by low birth rates and sustained emigration. Brunetta, a former minister and leading economic advisor, highlighted the failures of Italy’s political and economic structures to address the crisis. Employers’ lobbies also continue to oppose efforts to introduce a minimum wage, further limiting opportunities for young workers. Unlike pensioners, young Italian graduates are not a politically organised force and the government remains hesitant to reform state pensions and implement policies that could support the next generation.

Few regions illustrate this crisis more starkly than Veneto, with a significant downturn in enrolment already forcing school closures and local villages left abandoned as new generations seek opportunities elsewhere. 

According to Il sole 24 ore, between 2011 and 2024, around 630,000 young Italians left the country, with almost half from northern regions. The Veneto Region, traditionally a magnet for internal migration, has since become a region of departure. Graduates remain over-represented amongst those leaving, as 48.1 percent of Venetian emigrants hold a university degree. This data simply confirms what many young people have experienced firsthand, that qualifications alone are no longer enough and opportunities for career development and building personal wealth remain few and far between. 

Italy is one of the few OECD countries where real wages have declined since 2019, while youth unemployment remains above the EU average. As the working-age population shrinks, the ratio of workers to non-workers is projected to fall to one-to-one by 2050, intensifying pressure on welfare and social care systems. In Veneto, a region dominated by small and medium-sized businesses, young graduates often face temporary contracts, limited career progression and salaries that lag behind those offered in neighboring EU countries.  

Italy, meanwhile, remains unattractive to foreign talent. The OECD ranks Italy 31st out of 38 countries for talent attractiveness. For every nine Italians under 34 who leave, only one young person from another advanced economy arrives.

The cost to the community is immense. CNEL estimates the value of human capital lost nationally between 2011 and 2024 at 159.5 billion euros, equivalent to 7.5 percent of GDP. In Veneto, the transfer of young human capital represents a haemorrhage of tens of billions of euros in lost public and private investment, with resources spent educating young people who ultimately build their futures elsewhere. 

What remains clear is that this year represents a watershed moment for the next generation of Italians. As we move into 2026, the future for those who choose to remain is increasingly uncertain.

dp.