Italy Economy - 2022

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Economic overview

Italy’s economy comprises a developed industrial north, dominated by private companies, and a less-developed, highly subsidized, agricultural south, with a legacy of unemployment and underdevelopment. The Italian economy is driven in large part by the manufacture of high-quality consumer goods produced by small and medium-sized enterprises, many of them family-owned. Italy also has a sizable underground economy, which by some estimates accounts for as much as 17% of GDP. These activities are most common within the agriculture, construction, and service sectors.

 

Italy is the third-largest economy in the euro zone, but its exceptionally high public debt and structural impediments to growth have rendered it vulnerable to scrutiny by financial markets. Public debt has increased steadily since 2007, reaching 131% of GDP in 2017. Investor concerns about Italy and the broader euro-zone crisis eased in 2013, bringing down Italy's borrowing costs on sovereign government debt from euro-era records. The government still faces pressure from investors and European partners to sustain its efforts to address Italy's longstanding structural economic problems, including labor market inefficiencies, a sluggish judicial system, and a weak banking sector. Italy’s economy returned to modest growth in late 2014 for the first time since 2011. In 2015-16, Italy’s economy grew at about 1% each year, and in 2017 growth accelerated to 1.5% of GDP. In 2017, overall unemployment was 11.4%, but youth unemployment remained high at 37.1%. GDP growth is projected to slow slightly in 2018.

Real GDP (purchasing power parity)

$2,322,140,000,000 (2020 est.)

$2,548,190,000,000 (2019 est.)

$2,540,890,000,000 (2018 est.)

note: data are in 2017 dollars

Real GDP growth rate

0.34% (2019 est.)

0.83% (2018 est.)

1.73% (2017 est.)

Real GDP per capita

$39,000 (2020 est.)

$42,700 (2019 est.)

$42,100 (2018 est.)

note: data are in 2017 dollars

GDP (official exchange rate)

$2,002,763,000,000 (2019 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

0.6% (2019 est.)

1.1% (2018 est.)

1.2% (2017 est.)

Credit ratings

Fitch rating: BBB- (2020)

Moody's rating: Baa3 (2018)

Standard & Poors rating: BBB (2017)

note: The year refers to the year in which the current credit rating was first obtained.

GDP - composition, by sector of origin

agriculture: 2.1% (2017 est.)

industry: 23.9% (2017 est.)

services: 73.9% (2017 est.)

GDP - composition, by end use

household consumption: 61% (2017 est.)

government consumption: 18.6% (2017 est.)

investment in fixed capital: 17.5% (2017 est.)

investment in inventories: -0.2% (2017 est.)

exports of goods and services: 31.4% (2017 est.)

imports of goods and services: -28.3% (2017 est.)

Agricultural products

milk, grapes, wheat, maize, tomatoes, apples, olives, sugar beet, oranges, rice

Industries

tourism, machinery, iron and steel, chemicals, food processing, textiles, motor vehicles, clothing, footwear, ceramics

Industrial production growth rate

2.1% (2017 est.)

Labor force

22.92 million (2020 est.)

Labor force - by occupation

agriculture: 3.9%

industry: 28.3%

services: 67.8% (2011)

Unemployment rate

9.88% (2019 est.)

10.63% (2018 est.)

Youth unemployment rate (ages 15-24)

total: 29.7%

male: 27.7%

female: 32.8% (2021 est.)

Population below poverty line

20.1% (2018 est.)

Gini Index coefficient - distribution of family income

35.9 (2017 est.)

27.3 (1995)

Household income or consumption by percentage share

lowest 10%: 2.3%

highest 10%: 26.8% (2000)

Budget

revenues: 903.3 billion (2017 est.)

expenditures: 948.1 billion (2017 est.)

Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-)

-2.3% (of GDP) (2017 est.)

Public debt

131.8% of GDP (2017 est.)

132% of GDP (2016 est.)

note: Italy reports its data on public debt according to guidelines set out in the Maastricht Treaty; general government gross debt is defined in the Maastricht Treaty as consolidated general government gross debt at nominal value, outstanding at the end of the year, in the following categories of government liabilities (as defined in ESA95): currency and deposits (AF.2), securities other than shares excluding financial derivatives (AF.3, excluding AF.34), and loans (AF.4); the general government sector comprises central, state, and local government and social security funds

Taxes and other revenues

46.6% (of GDP) (2017 est.)

Fiscal year

calendar year

Current account balance

$59.517 billion (2019 est.)

$51.735 billion (2018 est.)

Exports

$558.26 billion (2020 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

$636.01 billion (2019 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

$656.06 billion (2018 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

Exports - partners

Germany 12%, France 11%, United States 10%, United Kingdom 5%, Spain 5%, Switzerland 5% (2019)

Exports - commodities

packaged medicines, cars and vehicle parts, refined petroleum, valves, trunks/cases, wine (2019)

Imports

$486.35 billion (2020 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

$569.7 billion (2019 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

$605.44 billion (2018 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

Imports - partners

Germany 16%, France 9%, China 7%, Spain 5%, Netherlands 5%, Belgium 5% (2019)

Imports - commodities

crude petroleum, cars, packaged medicines, natural gas, refined petroleum (2019)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

$151.2 billion (31 December 2017 est.)

$130.6 billion (31 December 2015 est.)

Debt - external

$2,463,208,000,000 (2019 est.)

$2,533,153,000,000 (2018 est.)

Exchange rates

euros (EUR) per US dollar -

0.82771 (2020 est.)

0.90338 (2019 est.)

0.87789 (2018 est.)

0.885 (2014 est.)

0.7634 (2013 est.)

NOTE: The information regarding Italy on this page is re-published from the 2022 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Italy 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Italy 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.