Drugs and prostitution, every year Italians spend as much as a budget law

How much do Italians spend on drugs and prostitution every year? Since they are illicit activities, it is difficult to make a precise estimate, but we can get an idea by taking a look at the report The economy not observed in the national accounts – Years 2018-2021 produced by Istat and then taken up by the Agi agency.
Before delving into the numbers for 2021, it must be specified that that year was marked by the still presence of restrictive measures linked to the pandemic, even if it was not like the disastrous 2020 where we were struggling with the lockdown for months.
Istat thus pointed out how spending on drugs and prostitution in Italy increased in 2021 compared to 2020, without however returning to pre-Covid levels; now that we are almost at the end of 2023, it is likely that this gap has been filled if not overcome.
The striking fact is that illegal activities – therefore not just drugs and prostitution which are in any case the two most important expenditure items – in 2021 "generated an added value equal to 18.2 billion euros" or 1.1% of our GDP.
Final consumption of illegal goods and services “grew by 1.2 billion euros, reaching 20.8 billion euros”.
If we think that the 2024 budget law has an overall scope of around 25 billion, we can safely say that in Italy every year almost as much is spent on drugs and prostitution as the value of a financial package.
read also Most used drugs in Italy, the ranking.
Which cities consume the most? Drugs and prostitution: how much is spent in Italy In its report, Istat went into detail about how much was spent in Italy on each of the various illicit activities.
Compared to 2020, in 2021 there was an increase of 5% following the easing of restrictive measures due to Covid.
As regards drugs, in 2021 the added value was "13.7 billion euros (+0.4 billion compared to 2020), while consumption spending stood at 15.5 billion euros (+0 .7 billion)”.
Spending on prostitution is also growing, so much so that in 2021 "the added value and final consumption increased, respectively, by 11.8% and 12.3% (reaching 3.9 and 4.5 billion euros )”.
The other illegal activities recorded much lower expenses; just to give an example, cigarette smuggling generated "a share of 3.3% of the added value (0.6 billion euros) and 3.8% of family consumption (0.8 billion euros) of the complex of illegal activities".
Seeing these figures reeled off by Istat, it seems clear why various associations are pushing to try to somehow legalize soft drugs and prostitution, thus guaranteeing greater controls and huge tax revenues for the State.
At the same time, this volume of spending also makes us understand what the proceeds are in Italy for criminal organizations, which every year can count on a river of money comparable to the total weight of a budget law.