Regional Statistical Yearbook - Sicily 2010
The Statistical Yearbook, "Sicily 2010", this year again presents itself as an updated synthesis of facts and figures, doing its utmost to respond to the general public's need for data regarding the situation in Sicily. Since the 2006 edition this work has been carried out in collaboration with the ISTAT Office for Sicily, on the basis of an agreement that has rendered possible this exchange of available sources and resources, as well as several effective methodological innovations. The data collected in the tables represents the most important variables for describing the Regional context and is organised in uniform manner for each section. In fact, a historic series of Regional data is provided for each indicator, consenting an outline of mid-period trends and the decomposition at the Provincial level of the last year in the time series. There is almost always a comparison between the Regional figures, those of the North/centre and South/islands division, and the figures for the country as a whole.
The sequences of statistics per sector as regards the arrangement of the chapters, from 1st (Environment and Territory) to 17th (Industry), has remained the same as in previous editions. On the other hand, the two subsequent sections deal with an environmental evaluation of Sicily via a spatial and temporal comparison of a set of urban indicators obtained through the ISTAT study: Survey of environmental data in cities - 2009 (Ch.18), and a reading of the Regional territory via a descriptive analysis of the environmental, socio-demographic, productive and economic structure; this highlights the peculiarities of the various areas into which the Region is divided and consents a spatial comparison (Ch.19). The analysis of environmental quality is carried out on the basis of six thematic areas: water, energy, air, transport, urban green areas and refuse. It aims to spark comparisons and provide ever more complete and integrated information regarding the environmental phenomena, in an attempt to safeguard our cities from Man's relentless advance. The 19th and final chapter represents a development of the project leading to the "Statistical Index for Municipalities in Sicily", emerging as a result of a convention stipulated between the Istat's Regional head-office in Sicily and the Statistical Services and Economic Analysis of the Regione Siciliana. This chapter provides systematically-arranged quantitative information at the level of the most detailed territorial divisions of an administrative type; this consents an evaluation the principal aspects of the Region's social and productive structure and the services offered to the general public, through a wide-ranging set of sectorial indicators. In other words, the aim of the chapter is to represent the state of health of Sicilian Municipalities by individuating a way of synthesising the multiplicity of indicators (for the main environmental, social and economic phenomena) into a single indicator capable of measuring the level of socio-economic development in Sicily.
The Yearbook provides an overview of Sicily and outlines, in its 158 tables and 314 pages, previously-recognised structural failings and a performance regarding social quality that is none too encouraging; glaring examples are the gap between the Regional employment-rate (43.5%) and the national one (57.5%) or Sicilian spending on R&D as a percentage (4.3%) of the figure for Italy, which is lower than the analogous (and already poor) incidence (5.7%) on the nation's GNP. Moreover the recent values of these variables do not indicate an improvement in trend, and the economic cycle, in the short term, does not offer prospects of tangible recovery. Nonetheless, statistical evidence might induce the observer and policy-maker alike to update their reference material and may occasionally bring about changes in our approach to criticality, both in terms of analysis and intervention policy.
