Italy: Economy#

Italy has a diversified economy, which is divided into a developed industrial north, dominated by private companies, and a less-developed, highly subsidized, agricultural south, where unemployment is higher. 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, topping 135% of GDP in 2015, but 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 impediments to growth, such as labor market inefficiencies and tax evasion. In 2014, economic growth and labor market conditions continued to deteriorate, with overall unemployment rising to 12.7% and youth unemployment around 40%, but Italy began to recover in 2015, with marginal growth and a slight reduction in unemployment.

Economic Facts#

GDP (purchasing power parity)$2.221 trillion (2016 est.)
$2.204 trillion (2015 est.)
$2.187 trillion (2014 est.)
note: data are in 2016 dollars
GDP (official exchange rate)$1.852 trillion (2015 est.)
GDP - real growth rate0.8% (2016 est.)
0.8% (2015 est.)
-0.3% (2014 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP)$36,300 (2016 est.)
$36,300 (2015 est.)
$36,000 (2014 est.)
note: data are in 2016 dollars
Gross national saving18.8% of GDP (2016 est.)
19% of GDP (2015 est.)
18.2% of GDP (2014 est.)
GDP - composition, by end usehousehold consumption: 60.9%
government consumption: 18.8%
investment in fixed capital: 16.5%
investment in inventories: 0.2%
exports of goods and services: 29.7%
imports of goods and services: -26.1% (2016 est.)
GDP - composition, by sector of originagriculture: 2.2%
industry: 23.9%
services: 73.8% (2016 est.)
Agriculture - productsfruits, vegetables, grapes, potatoes, sugar beets, soybeans, grain, olives; beef, dairy products; fish
Industriestourism, machinery, iron and steel, chemicals, food processing, textiles, motor vehicles, clothing, footwear, ceramics
Industrial production growth rate0.8% (2016 est.)
Labor force25.6 million (2016 est.)
Labor force - by occupationagriculture: 3.9%
industry: 28.3%
services: 67.8% (2011)
Unemployment rate11.4% (2016 est.)
11.9% (2015 est.)
Population below poverty line29.9% (2012 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage sharelowest 10%: 2.3%
highest 10%: 26.8% (2000)
Distribution of family income - Gini index31.9 (2012 est.)
27.3 (1995)
Budgetrevenues: $842.5 billion
expenditures: $889.8 billion (2016 est.)
Taxes and other revenues45.5% of GDP (2016 est.)
Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-)-2.6% of GDP (2016 est.)
Public debt132.5% of GDP (2016 est.)
132.8% of GDP (2015 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
Fiscal yearcalendar year
Inflation rate (consumer prices)-0.2% (2016 est.)
0.1% (2015 est.)
Central bank discount rate0.25% (31 December 2013)
0.75% (31 December 2012)
note: this is the European Central Bank's rate on the marginal lending facility, which offers overnight credit to banks in the euro area
Commercial bank prime lending rate3.8% (31 December 2016 est.)
4.13% (31 December 2015 est.)
Stock of narrow money$1.069 trillion (31 December 2016 est.)
$1.026 trillion (31 December 2015 est.)
note: see entry for the European Union for money supply for the entire euro area; the European Central Bank (ECB) controls monetary policy for the 18 members of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU); individual members of the EMU do not control the quantity of
Stock of broad money$2.134 trillion (31 December 2014 est.)
$2.284 trillion (31 December 2013 est.)
Stock of domestic credit$2.97 trillion (31 December 2016 est.)
$3.053 trillion (31 December 2015 est.)
Market value of publicly traded shares$480.5 billion (31 December 2012 est.)
$587.3 billion (31 December 2014 est.)
$615.5 billion (31 December 2013 est.)
Current account balance$40.23 billion (2016 est.)
$39.91 billion (2015 est.)
Exports$436.3 billion (2016 est.)
$450.1 billion (2015 est.)
Exports - commoditiesengineering products, textiles and clothing, production machinery, motor vehicles, transport equipment, chemicals; foodstuffs, beverages, and tobacco; minerals, nonferrous metals
Exports - partnersGermany 12.3%, France 10.3%, US 8.7%, UK 5.4%, Spain 4.8%, Switzerland 4.7% (2015)
Imports$372.2 billion (2016 est.)
$391.2 billion (2015 est.)
Imports - commoditiesengineering products, chemicals, transport equipment, energy products, minerals and nonferrous metals, textiles and clothing; food, beverages, tobacco
Imports - partnersGermany 15.4%, France 8.7%, China 7.7%, Netherlands 5.6%, Spain 5%, Belgium 4.7% (2015)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold$130.6 billion (31 December 2015 est.)
$142.2 billion (31 December 2014 est.)
Debt - external$2.444 trillion (31 March 2016 est.)
$2.3 trillion (31 March 2015 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home$472.3 billion (31 December 2016 est.)
$463.2 billion (31 December 2015 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad$610.3 billion (31 December 2016 est.)
$594.4 billion (31 December 2015 est.)
Exchange rateseuros (EUR) per US dollar -
0.9214 (2016 est.)
0.885 (2015 est.)
0.885 (2014 est.)
0.7634 (2013 est.)
0.78 (2012 est.)