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Methodology

How we collect, process and present data on DatiItalia.

Introduction

DatiItalia collects data from official Italian and European sources. This page explains our sources, processing procedures and methodological choices.

Data Sources

  • ISTAT — Italian National Institute of Statistics (istat.it). Datasets: POSAS (resident population by age and sex, via the SDMX API, annual updates, latest year 2026), the 8milaCensus historical census series 1951-2011, and the demographic balance (births, deaths, balance). Covers resident population, age structure, migration balance and gender distribution for every municipality.
  • MEF — Ministry of Economy and Finance, Department of Finance (finanze.gov.it). Dataset: personal income tax returns per municipality (annual open data, latest tax year 2023). Average and median income, distribution by income brackets, number of taxpayers.
  • ISPRA — Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (isprambiente.gov.it). Dataset: Land Consumption Report (2024 edition, updated annually). Consumed area in hectares and consumption percentage per municipality.
  • EEA — European Environment Agency (eea.europa.eu). Dataset: gridded interpolated air quality (latest available year 2022, updated annually). Annual average concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, NO2 and Ozone for municipalities covered by monitoring.

Coverage

Coverage varies by municipality, indicator and period. Citing a source does not guarantee that a value is available. Missing values are not zero.

Update frequency

Availability depends on source releases and successful imports. Reference period, publication and import dates are distinct; a planned schedule does not guarantee that every municipality is up to date.

Data Processing

Raw data is automatically downloaded from official sources, normalized and stored in a PostgreSQL database. The update process runs weekly through automated scripts, and every dataset keeps its provenance (source, URL and acquisition date), also exposed through the public API.

Quality of Life Index

The quality of life index is a composite index calculated as a weighted average of five dimensions: Income (30%), Environment (25%), Services (20%), Demographics (15%), Safety (10%). Each dimension is normalized on a 0-100 scale.

Limitations

The data has some limitations: not all municipalities have complete data for every indicator; environmental data is only available for monitored cities; updates have different frequencies depending on the source.