Health in Italy

Italy is known for its generally very good health system, and the life expectancy is 80 for males and 85 for females, placing the country 5th in the world for life expectancy, and low infant mortality. In comparison to other Western countries, Italy has a relatively low rate of adult obesity (below 10%), as there are several health benefits of the Mediterranean diet. The proportion of daily smokers was 22% in 2012, down from 24.4% in 2000 but still slightly above the OECD average. Smoking in public places including bars, restaurants, night clubs and offices has been restricted to specially ventilated rooms since 2005.

In 2013, UNESCO added the Mediterranean diet to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of Italy (promoter), Morocco, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus and Croatia. As with any developed country, Italy has adequate and sufficient water and food distribution, and levels of nutrition and sanitation are high. In Italy, medical care is provided for free under a universal healthcare system, which operates on the assumption that healthcare is a human right and should be accessible to everyone regardless of their ability to pay.

Italy has a good and sufficient water supply, yet, especially due to droughts, common in the summer (notably in Southern Italy), water shortages can frequently occur. Italians consume a very high amount of mineral water, the highest compared to equivalent neighbours: in 1992, the average person in Italy drank 116 litres, compared to 105 in Belgium, 93 in Germany and 80 in France. According to studies, 18 million people in Italy annually are confronted with at least one slight water shortage, and 18% of Italian families have been recorded as having irregular distribution patterns. Some water distribution is also uneven, and can be explained by economic factors; for example, people in Lombardy, Italy's richest region, drink nine times more bottled water than Campania, one of the country's poorest.

A problem which often presents itself regarding drinking water is water pollution and the presence of harmful purifying chemicals and/or herbicides, which can cause several health problems. According to a decree issued by the state, the maximum presence of herbicides or similar materials in Italy drinking water is 0.5 μg per litre.

Italy's nutritious and generally healthy cuisine ensures that Italians are well-nourished and eat good food. The relatively recent addition of several drugs to meats has meant that controls have increased from 4,000 in 1988 to 56,831 in 1991.

Being a relatively warm and sunny country, Italians are often exposed to direct radiation from the sun (ultraviolet radiation), which, if not protected from sun cream or block, can create carcinogenic skin diseases, such as skin cancer. Despite this, the greatest risk from exposure to radiation is found indoors.

Italy has one of the highest life expectancies in the world. Italy's high average varies greatly by regions. In the more affluent north, the life expectancy at birth in 1990 for a man was lower than in Italy's south (73.3 compared to 74.2). For a woman, the average is higher in the north than in the south (80.6 compared to 79.8). Central Italy has the highest average, with 74.7 for men and 81.0 for women.

In 2003, the average national life expectancy at birth for a woman was 78~84, and for a man 71~77. By 2009, this average had increased to 77.26 for men, and 83.33 for women. As of 2019, Italian women life expectancy is 85/86 years, whereas for Italian men is 81 years.