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Trying times

— 0% population growth rate

— 42.5 median age, compared with 38.5 in Britain

— one in five Italians is over 65

— 1.29 children born per woman. 2.1 needed to maintain population

— 120 days lost each year to strike action per 1,000 employees from 2001 to 2005, compared with 26 in Britain

— 20th place on Human Development Index, the UN measure of factors such as education, wealth and life expectancy, four places below Britain and seven below Spain. Italy dropped three places in the past year

— 7% unemployment rate, higher than 76 countries, including Romania, Nigeria, Cambodia and Ukraine

— 106% public debt as proportion of GDP, the sixth-highest in the world, higher than Zimbabwe

Sources: UN, CIA, National Statistics

Merda se ci massacrano