A Multivariate Statistical Analysis of Equitable and Sustainable Well-Being Over Time

The Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) declined a multidimensional approach to measure equitable and sustainable well-being (Benessere Equo Sostenibile, BES) at a detailed territorial level, that is, at the provincial level (NUTS3) entailing a wide spectrum of indicators grouped into domains related to Health, Education, Work and life balance, Economic well-being, Social relationships, Politics and institutions, Security, Landscape and cultural heritage, Environment, Innovation research and creativity, and Quality of services. These indicators can help in describing the territories because they can spot situations of concern, such as in the South of Italy. The gap between North and South Italy has increased over time, a picture we can describe using each of the indicators, but also by jointly considering them by using a factor analysis and clustering and constructing a composite indicator. Contrary to some researchers who have suggested the employment of time series indicators for the period 2004–2016 looking for a latent factor, that takes into account the joint temporal trend of the indicators, in this paper, the situation among three different moments over time is compared: before the 2008 crisis and a few years after it. To do this, we have chosen a certain number of indicators on the basis of their features.