Rome is a city of a thousand faces: ancient history, elegant neighborhoods and lively suburbs. But when it comes to university education, the gap between the center and the suburbs remains enormous. The most recent data from Istat’s Permanent Census 2021, analyzed by #mapparoma, show that while in areas like Salario or Eur more than half of the inhabitants have a college degree, there are neighborhoods where the percentage does not even reach 15 percent. The three areas with the fewest college graduates overall are Santa Maria di Galeria (13 percent), Santa Palomba (14 percent) and San Vittorino (14 percent).
Graduates grow in Rome, but the gap remains
In Italy’s capital, college graduates are steadily increasing: in 1981 they were just 7 percent of the population, in 2001 15 percent, in 2011 20 percent, and in 2021 almost 26 percent. In absolute values we are talking about more than 650,000 people. An impressive growth, but one that has not erased the inequalities within the city.
The central and affluent areas have “little Italian Oxford” percentages, while the suburbs furthest from the urban core lag decades behind.
Center vs. suburbs: two cities within Rome.
The 2021 snapshot shows a stark contrast. In the II Municipio (Salario, Trieste, Parioli, Nomentano, Camilluccia) more than 50 percent of adults have a college degree: a figure in line with the major European capitals. In the suburbs, however, the situation is opposite. Neighborhoods such as Torre Angela, Tor Cervara or La Rustica stop between 15 and 16 percent, while the negative records come in the three neighborhoods already mentioned, where one graduate for every seven to eight inhabitants is the norm.
This gap is not just a matter of educational numbers: it reflects social, economic and even job prospects differences. Not surprisingly, the very same areas with fewer college graduates have lower employment rates.
What is happening in Santa Maria di Galeria, Santa Palomba, and San Vittorino?
- Santa Maria di Galeria (13 percent): a semi-rural Roman area in the northwest, outside the GRA, where population density is low and access to services and universities is limited. Here the number of college graduates is the lowest in all of Rome.
- Santa Palomba (14 percent): an area south of the capital, often associated with industrial developments and public housing. The combination of distance from the center and poor access to cultural infrastructure explains the low numbers.
- San Vittorino (14%): on the eastern edge of the city, it represents an example of “extreme” suburbia. Here physical distance from the center corresponds to social distance, with fewer opportunities for education and skilled work.
Slow but visible improvement
Despite the less than encouraging data, it must be said that over the past decade these same areas have seen significant growth in college graduates. In Tor Cervara, for example, there has been an increase from 6 to 15 percent (+162 percent in ten years). In Santa Palomba and Borghesiana, the doubling has also been evident. The gap with wealthy neighborhoods remains, but the gap is narrowing slightly.
Rome is growing, increasing its graduates, but the gaps remain stark
Why are these data on education in the Capital interesting? These maps are not just statistics: they tell us about the challenges of a modern metropolis. A city where living five kilometers away can mean being four times more likely to graduate. If Salario and Parioli shine with more than half the number of inhabitants with a college degree, Santa Maria di Galeria, Santa Palomba and San Vittorino mark the negative record.
It is a signal that concerns not only Rome, but many large Italian cities, where the center accumulates opportunities and the suburbs trudge on. These are data that make us think: the future of a city also depends on access to study, and reducing this gap is one of the great challenges of the coming years.