Classifying households by socio-economic vulnerability: an application to an italian municipality

The measurement of the socio-economic vulnerability of communities and households, especially at a low territorial detail, has important implications both in terms of the analysis of well-being and in terms of policy. This paper reports the results of a work conducted for classifying households of an Italian municipality in relation to their socio-economic vulnerability. Data are referred to the Italian municipality of Modena, in 2012. Since vulnerability is a multidimensional concept, a composite indicator approach was followed. A Cluster Analysis was also performed in order to identify and characterize specific groups of households. The empirical evidence shows that the degree of socio-economic vulnerability of households is quite low and that the elements of vulnerability often overlap. Translated into operational practice, the proposed framework facilitates policy makers to suitably target the local level interventions and to define the hierarchy of priorities to endorse the well-being of households and communities.