Over 2 thousand initiatives, carried out with 6,700 third sector organisations; 4500 job placements, the management of 110 confiscated assets and 57 monuments: the twenty-year balance sheet of the Con Il Sud Foundation is made up of important numbers which were presented yesterday in Naples, with an event "Sud Vivo", dedicated to the theme of the depopulation of the South and the prospects of demographic regeneration. Event which was held inside the Donnaregina monumental complex, in the presence of the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella.
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«As the four verbs of the Foundation so clearly indicated say - said President Mattarella - anyone born in the South can freely choose to stay there, can return if they have had experience elsewhere and can join those who come from outside to arrive in the South. And this instills a key to the development of the entire country: those who work for this purpose carry out a precious task in the life of our national community." There was also space for the Head of State for a photograph, together with the children of the Cooperativa Sociale La Paranza.
Concerns about depopulation. Italians are growing concerned about the depopulation of the country, especially in the South. 73% of citizens, over 7 out of 10, say they are worried about the phenomenon and believe that it must be addressed as a priority. This is an increase of 13 points compared to the previous survey in March 2025. This is what emerges from the previews of the survey "Italians and depopulation... Not only in the South", conducted by the Demopolis Institute, directed by Pietro Vento, for the Foundation with the South and presented in Naples. The decline in births worries 8 out of 10 Italians, with a substantially uniform figure across the entire national territory. According to Istat data referred to in the report, between 2001 and 2023 the South lost around 730 thousand residents. The projections to 2080, even in the least pessimistic scenarios, indicate an estimated loss of around 8 million inhabitants, with a strong contraction of the youth groups. For 69% of those interviewed, the most effective measure to combat depopulation is the creation of job opportunities in the territories concerned. This is followed by tax incentives and benefits for businesses and young people (61%), the improvement of public transport and mobility (56%), support for the purchase or renovation of a first home in small villages (54%) and the strengthening of educational, health and personal services (51%). 62% of Italians believe that local regeneration projects should be promoted jointly by institutions, businesses and the private sector, while only a third would entrust this task exclusively to the institutions.
But a reversal of the trend is still possible. «Not only Naples, but many areas of the South, even inland areas, demonstrate that there is a desire to react to depopulation - says the president of Fondazione con il Sud, Stefano Consiglio - Let's try with our resources to stand alongside these communities. It is important that this standing by each other extends to regional bodies, and many Regions are moving in this direction, and to all national entities, because if the South becomes depopulated this is not just a problem for the South, it is a problem for the whole of Italy." Consiglio continues: «Today we present the Sud Vivo report, which in addition to containing data wants to tell the many stories of the South which is reacting, which is improving, which is creating opportunities to give work to boys and girls from the South and sometimes even attract people from the North who come to work in the South. We try to present the other side of the South, the one that is working to improve things, many people, men and women, young and old, who give hope. It is important, to beat this depression, this sense of inevitability, that there is hope. Many boys and girls are demonstrating that it is possible to improve things."
Small stories of communities that react and show a living South are those collected in the Report edited by Francesco Izzo and Fabrizio Minnella. «He who eats makes crumbs», says Francesco Izzo, dusting off a Sicilian saying and to represent the contamination action implemented with the many third sector projects. Eighteen stories tell of a South that creates value, welcomes, innovates and organizes itself, does not give up or complain, and that says something to the whole country.
