Perceived Inequality across Italian Regions: Survey Evidence from the Territorial Inequality

This paper studies the regional geography of perceived inequality in Italy using ev- idence from a large-scale online survey developed within the (Growing Resilient, Inclu- sive and Sustainable) GRINS observatory. The survey complements official statistics by capturing dimensions that conventional distributional indicators do not directly observe, including subjective class placement, current economic adequacy, intergenerational com- parison, adolescent living conditions, social support, and everyday exposure to richer and poorer groups. The paper has a double aim. Substantively, it documents how inequal- ity is experienced and narrated across Italian regions. Methodologically, it shows why survey-based evidence is essential for interpreting territorial disparities alongside official sources such as the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT). The results reveal a mul- tidimensional pattern in which perceived inequality is shaped not only by material strain, but also by remembered disadvantage, fragile support networks, and persistent upward comparison. The regional ranking that emerges is not a mechanical reflection of standard narratives of deprivation and cannot be reduced to a simple territorial divide. The paper therefore argues that a fuller understanding of inequality in Italy requires integrating offi- cial measures with systematic evidence on how households perceive their social position and relative distance from others.