In 2023, Italy spent a total of €583.712 billion on pensions, health and assistance, an increase of 4.32% over the previous year (€24.2 billion): spending on welfare benefits absorbed more than half of total public spending, 50.93%. Compared to 2012, and thus over a little more than a decade, welfare spending has increased by €151.448 billion (+35%); an increase attributable mainly to welfare charges from general taxation, which grew by 137.25% (+78%) compared to “only” €56 billion in social security spending (+26.53%) and 29.26% in Gross Domestic Product. It is therefore a less than reassuring picture that drawn by the Twelfth Report on the Balance Sheet of the Italian Welfare System edited by the Itinerari Previdenziali Study and Research Center, which - in the absence of robust economic and demographic growth - makes pessimistic forecasts on the sustainability of Italian welfare in the medium and long term.