All right - we all have been told that Italy is on the brink of collapse, but is it?
According to the above 2009 data chart (Banca d'Italia report) the gross wealth of Italian households was estimated at €9,448 billion and their net wealth at €8,600 billion.
Italian households' share of global net wealth at 5.7 per cent, larger than the country's share of world GDP at 3 per cent or population of 1.1 per cent.
By international standards Italian households have relatively little debt. Household debt is equal to about 78 per cent of disposable income, compared with 100 per cent in France and Germany, 130 per cent in the United States and Japan and 134 per cent in Australia.
So that's €8,600bn of household wealth vs. the €1,900bn public debt mountain. Around 50 per cent of Italian government bonds are already owned by Italians.
According to the Italian central bank - the country's stock of financial assets is a tidy €3,565bn - so Italians can afford to help their government and themselves.
