Deaths at work, the real numbers. Italy above EU average. Here are the sectors most at risk

The tragedy of deaths at work is unfortunately still current in Italy. This note clarifies how many people have died at work in recent years, comparing Italy with other European countries.

The situation in Italy

When a death occurs at work, the employer is required to report it to the National Institute for Accidents at Work (INAIL), which insures "all cases of accidents caused by violent causes at work".

Deaths “in itinere”, that is, those that occur on the way to work, are also insured.

When talking about workplace deaths, the media tend to report the number of reports. However, only a portion of the reports are recognized by INAIL and compensated. For completeness, we therefore report both the total reports and those recognized.

The picture for 2023

In 2023, 1187 deaths were reported to INAIL, of which 612 (57%) were recognized. For 2024, only provisional data on total reports are available (1077), as well as for the first four months of 2025: 286 reports against 265 in the same period in 2024.

From 2008 to 2023, the number of deaths decreased, both in terms of reports (1624 in 2008, 1187 in 2023) and recognized cases (1110 in 2008, 696 in 2023) (Fig.1). However, the decline is entirely attributable to the period between 2008 and 2014. From 2014 to 2019, the number of deaths remained substantially stable, until the peak in 2020, due to Covid infections that occurred at work, included in the statistics. The data has since dropped, but the 2023 reports were about the same as in 2014. The comparison improves when looking only at recognized cases (739 in 2014, 612 in 2023), but the data from recent years will probably be revised upwards (as happened in the past), both for total reports and for recognized cases. That said, the provisional data for 2024 would suggest a significant decline (1087 deaths, 8.4% less).

The trend over the last 15 years

The trajectory of deaths per 100,000 employed is slightly better: the decline is marked from 2008 (7 reported, 4.8 recognized) to 2014 (5.4 reported, 3.4 recognized), while in 2022 (5.5 reported, 3 recognized) the situation was similar to 8 years earlier. In 2023 the number dropped significantly (5 reported, of which 2.6 recognized), a decline confirmed by the provisional data for 2024 (4.5 reported). As mentioned above, the data will probably be revised upwards in the future.

Over the long period, for which only data on recognised cases are available, the improvement has been notable: from an average of over 20 deaths per 100,000 employed people in the 1960s to 10 in the 1980s, 8 in the 1990s, 6 in the 2000s and 3.6 in the 2010s (Fig. 2).

The data reported so far also include deaths in itinere, which were about a quarter of the total in 2008-2024. Excluding them, the levels change but the trend remains the same (4.1 reported of which 2.5 recognized in 2014 versus 4.1 reported of which 2.2 recognized in 2023) (Fig.3). In 2023 (3.8 reported of which 2 recognized) and in 2024 (3.3 reported) there was an improvement, but, again, it remains to be seen whether the data will be confirmed.

Agriculture, construction and transport are the sectors most at risk

Deaths, net of those in itinere, occur with much higher frequency in three sectors: agriculture (in 2023, 15.7 reported per 100,000 employed, of which 9 recognized), construction (12.4 reported, 9.2 recognized) and transport (taxi drivers, truck drivers, etc.), due to road accidents (11.1 reported, 4.7 recognized). The values ​​are much lower for manufacturing and other industrial activities (3.1 reported, 1.7 recognized) and in the remaining, i.e. services (0.9 reported, 0.8 recognized).

Mortality is higher in small businesses (between 10 and 49 employees): in 2022, the last year available, it was 3 per 100,000 employees. For medium-sized businesses (between 50 and 249 employees) it was 2.5 and for micro businesses (up to 9 employees) 2.2. In large businesses (more than 250 employees) deaths were much lower: 1.1 per 100,000 employees.

The available data do not allow to clarify whether the deaths are influenced by the number of companies inspected by the Labour Inspectorate (INL) for safety matters. Inspections decreased between 2012 and 2019, but, after a further reduction during the Covid years, there was a strong recovery in 2024, with the historical record of inspected companies (46,985) (Fig. 3). A single observation does not allow to draw conclusions, but this increase corresponded to the number of reports, albeit provisional, lowest ever. The increased inspections are probably due to the strengthening of the INL staff dedicated to safety, which went from 215 units in 2022 to almost 900 in the last two years.

Comparison with other European Union countries

The Eurostat definition of work-related death excludes both commuting and uncompensated cases. The number, expressed per 100,000 employed persons, is adjusted to take into account the different production structures of the countries.

From 2010 to 2022 (latest available data), Italy has always had a higher number of workplace deaths than the EU average, although the gap has narrowed over the years (Fig. 4). The greater gap in the two-year period 2020-21 is due to the fact that, unlike Italy, almost all countries have not counted Covid deaths as having occurred at work. However, Italy is the “median” country, with 13 countries better positioned and 13 worse.

Among the most advanced countries, in 2022 the frequency of deaths in Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg and France was higher than in Italy (Fig.5), although the French data should be taken with a pinch of salt for statistical reasons: every accident that occurs at work, regardless of the cause, is considered an accident at work; it is up to the employer to prove that the accident did not occur at work. Consequently, the data tends to be very high.

Other advanced countries do better than Italy (among the best are the Netherlands and Germany, with an incidence that is, respectively, one fifth and two fifths of the Italian one), but also Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland. However, among the countries with a lower number than Italy, some (Hungary, Belgium, Slovakia, Poland and the Netherlands) do not include self-employed workers in the statistics, and Slovenia and the Netherlands do not count road accidents that occur while working, effectively excluding the transport sector, which is at high risk.

Excluding transport from the statistics of all countries, Italy's position improves, with 0.9 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in 2022, less than the EU average of 1.3 (Fig. 6). Italy is in the median position compared to Western European countries, performing better than, among others, Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg and France (keeping in mind the statistical peculiarity of the latter), but worse than Denmark, Finland, Greece, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and Ireland.