Bathing sites with excellent water quality in Italy
Italy: Bathing sites with excellent water quality was 87.7% in 2025. ▲ Rising
Bathing sites with excellent water quality in Italy, 1992–2025
Source: European Environment Agency (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
The most recent figure for bathing sites with excellent water quality in Italy is 87.7%, measured in 2025.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 0.7% on the previous year and down 4.0% over ten years.
Over the whole period, bathing sites with excellent water quality in Italy peaked at 91.6% in 2016 and was at its lowest, 39.2%, in 2009.
Italy ranks 9th of 27 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 34 years of available data.
Bathing sites with excellent water quality in Italy, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 59.1% | — |
| 1993 | 60.8% | +2.8% |
| 1994 | 63.6% | +4.6% |
| 1995 | 69.7% | +9.6% |
| 1996 | 73.3% | +5.2% |
| 1997 | 74.4% | +1.4% |
| 1998 | 69.5% | -6.6% |
| 1999 | 72.1% | +3.7% |
| 2000 | 67.3% | -6.7% |
| 2001 | 70.1% | +4.1% |
| 2002 | 50.0% | -28.6% |
| 2003 | 56.9% | +13.8% |
| 2004 | 57.0% | +0.1% |
| 2005 | 53.8% | -5.6% |
| 2006 | 52.7% | -2.0% |
| 2007 | 55.4% | +5.2% |
| 2008 | 52.6% | -5.1% |
| 2009 | 39.2% | -25.5% |
| 2010 | 58.3% | +48.9% |
| 2011 | 77.0% | +32.0% |
| 2012 | 75.5% | -1.9% |
| 2013 | 77.2% | +2.2% |
| 2014 | 86.3% | +11.8% |
| 2015 | 91.4% | +5.9% |
| 2016 | 91.6% | +0.2% |
| 2017 | 89.8% | -1.9% |
| 2018 | 90.6% | +0.9% |
| 2019 | 90.0% | -0.6% |
| 2020 | 88.1% | -2.1% |
| 2021 | 86.4% | -2.0% |
| 2022 | 88.0% | +1.9% |
| 2023 | 87.8% | -0.2% |
| 2024 | 88.3% | +0.6% |
| 2025 | 87.7% | -0.7% |
Italy compared with similar countries
- Italy's 87.7% is above the median for Europe & Central Asia, which is 80.0%, 1.1× the median. (27 countries reporting)
- Italy's 87.7% is above the median for high income countries, which is 80.4%, 1.1× the median. (26 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Bathing sites with excellent water quality in Italy changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | +48.9% | 39.2% | 58.3% |
| 2011 | +32.0% | 58.3% | 77.0% |
| 2002 | -28.6% | 70.1% | 50.0% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 67.8% | 59.1% | 74.4% | 8 |
| 2000s | 55.5% | 39.2% | 70.1% | 10 |
| 2010s | 82.8% | 58.3% | 91.6% | 10 |
| 2020s | 87.7% | 86.4% | 88.3% | 6 |
Countries ranked near Italy
More environment data for Italy
- Historical exposure to drought — Land soil moisture anomaly 2.04 Percentage change (2025)
- Historical exposure to drought — Cropland soil moisture anomaly 2.47 Percentage change (2025)
- Standard Deviation, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Standard Deviation 0.324 °C (2025)
- Temperature change 2.18 °C (2025)
- Wood-based panels — Production, annual growth rate 6.1 % change on previous year (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), annual -1.94 % change on previous year (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), per unit 0 Mt CO2e per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e), per capita 0 Mt CO2e per person (2024)
- Methane (CH4) emissions from Agriculture (Mt CO2e), annual growth rate -0.2257 % change on previous year (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is bathing sites with excellent water quality in Italy?
- Bathing sites with excellent water quality in Italy was 87.7% in 2025, according to European Environment Agency (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest bathing sites with excellent water quality recorded in Italy?
- The highest recorded value was 91.6% in 2016.
- What is the lowest bathing sites with excellent water quality recorded in Italy?
- The lowest recorded value was 39.2% in 2009.
- How does Italy rank for bathing sites with excellent water quality?
- Italy ranks 9th out of 27 countries with data for 2025.
- Is bathing sites with excellent water quality rising or falling in Italy?
- Over the last ten years it is down 4.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Italy data come from?
- The figures come from European Environment Agency (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Bathing sites with excellent water quality. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 34 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Share of bathing water sites in lakes or rivers that are of excellent quality. This means contamination levels of certain bacteria are below a strict threshold.