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Population, 2020: 59,450,000
Gross National Income, Atlas method, Current USD, Billions, 2020: $1,923.56
GNI per capita, Atlas method, Current USD, 2020: $32,360
Income Share Held by Lowest 20%, 2020: 6.1%
Gross Domestic Product, Current USD, Billions, 2020: $1,888.71

Source: World Bank. Country Profile: Italy. World Development Indicators. Last accessed June 18, 2022.

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Gross Domestic Product Per Capita, Current USD, 2010-2019: $33,226
Share of Household Income, 2010-2019:
    Bottom 40%: 18.0%; Top 20%: 42.1%; Bottom 20%: 6.0%
Gini Coefficient, 2010-2019: 32.8
Palma Index of Income Inequality, 2010-2019: 1.3

Source: United Nations Children’s Fund, The State of the World’s Children 2021: On My Mind – Promoting, protecting and caring for children’s mental health, UNICEF, New York, October 2021.

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“The most important sectors of Italy’s economy in 2020 were wholesale and retail trade, transport, accommodation and food services (20.1%), industry (19.5%) and public administration, defence, education, human health and social work activities (17.5%).

“Intra-EU trade accounts for 51% of Italy’s exports (Germany 13%, France 10%), while outside the EU 10% go to the United States and 6% to Switzerland.

“In terms of imports, 58% come from EU Member States (Germany 16%, France 8% and the Netherlands 6%), while outside the EU 9% come from China and 4% from the United States.”

Source: European Union. Country Profile: Italy. Last accessed Feb. 8, 2023.

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“Italy has a market economy, is a founding member of the EU and is in the Eurozone. It is also a member of major multilateral economic organizations such as the Group of Seven Industrialized Countries (G-7), the Group of Eight (G-8), the Group of Twenty (G-20), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In 2021, Italy was the eighthlargest economy in the world and the fourth-largest in Europe in terms of nominal gross domestic product (GDP) (IMF, 2022). Its annual GDP (in current prices) accounts for 11% of the European Union’s (EU’s) total GDP (RGS, 2019). In 2020, gross national income (GNI) per capita was $US 31 714 (Table 1.2). In 2021, southern Italy was the poorest and least developed area with a family poverty incidence of 9.9%, against a value of 7.5% in the north and 5.4% in the centre (ISTAT, 2021b). In the last two decades, in terms of GDP annual growth rate, the Italian economy has underperformed and was heavily impacted by an 8.9 % decline in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown measures and a drastic fall in internal demand (MEF, 2020); the average decrease across EU members states was 6.2%. Likewise, government gross debt rose to 183.5% of GDP in 2020, against an OECD average of 94% (OECD, 2022a). After a sharp rebound of 6.6% in 2021, a snapshot of the Italian economy in June 2022 forecasts a growth rate of 2.5% in 2022, supported by strong base effects, new incentives for the private sector and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) (Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza) (OECD, 2022b). However, at the time of writing (September 2022) it is clear that this outlook will be negatively impacted by the persistent inflationary pressures connected to the current war in Ukraine, the increase of oil and gas prices, and a domestic political crisis which led to new elections at the end of September 2022. Uncertainty will impede household consumption and investment, slowing the recovery of services.”

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“The Italian economy is based on a large service sector (public and private) and manufacturing goods, primarily in small and medium-sized firms. Italy has few natural resources and most of its energy requirements have to be imported (78.6% compared with 47.3% in France, 64% in Germany and 76.3% in Spain). In 2019, the agricultural sector employed 3.89% of the workforce; the secondary sector employed 25.87% of the population, whereas the services sector employed 70.24 % of the population (Statista, 2022). As for the contribution of the productive sectors to GDP, in 2020, the agricultural sector accounted for only 1.9% of GDP; the secondary sector provided for 21.6% of GDP and the services sector 66.7% (Statista, 2021b).

“From 1992, economic policies were launched to tackle the fiscal and monetary imbalances that had developed over the previous years, aiming to contain public debt, stabilize the currency (up to the introduction of the Euro) and keep interest rates low (Ferrè et al., 2014). Since the late 1990s, one of the specific weaknesses of Italy’s economy has been the labour market structure. By the end of 2021, the unemployment rate was 9% and the youth unemployment rate was 26.8% (ISTAT, 2022c). Temporary jobs continue to play an increasingly important role within Italy’s economy, primarily inItaly 7the south. Women account for 42.2% of the workforce (Censis, 2019), one of the lowest rates among EU countries, which sharply declines moving up the career ladder. Furthermore, with the pandemic, the majority of those who lost their jobs were women (FSCdL, 2020). Italy also has a major underground economy that accounts for an estimated 11% of GDP – EUR 192 billion (ISTAT, 2020a). This includes many nominally unemployed people, as well as undocumented immigrants, often in harsh agricultural working conditions in the rural south, informal carers and domestic workers.”

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Health Systems Facts is a project of the Real Reporting Foundation. We provide reliable statistics and other data from authoritative sources regarding health systems in the US and sixteen other nations.

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Page last updated Feb. 8, 2023 by Doug McVay, Editor.