In 2024, the added value of the South grew at a rate one and a half times higher than that of the North: +2.89% compared to 1.77% in the North and 2.14% for the Italian average compared to 2023. This is what emerges from the analysis carried out by the Tagliacarne Study Center and Unioncamere on provincial added value at current values for 2024, which takes into account the latest revision of national accounts carried out by Istat and released last September.
In particular, double-digit increases were recorded across the country in agriculture (+10.25%), which nevertheless generates just 2.23% of the wealth produced, while on the opposite side, more significant declines were recorded in manufacturing (-4.10%), which accounts for 19.04% of added value. At the regional level, Sardinia (+3.74%), Puglia (+3.13%), and Calabria (+3.12%) are moving at a faster pace. At the provincial level, the most marked growth is observed in Viterbo (+4.85%), followed by Imperia (+4.29%) and Foggia (+4.22%).
However, if we look at per capita wealth, it is the North, with €40,158, that clearly stands out from the rest of Italy and, in particular, from the South (€22,353). The driving force is above all Milan, which, with an added value of €65,721 per capita, confirms its leadership, almost doubling the national average of €33,348. This milestone has currently been achieved in Europe by only 19 ‘provinces’ of the European Union (including 11 in Germany) out of the 1,165 into which the EU territory is divided.
The added value data paint a mixed picture. The South confirms positive signs of dynamism, overturning the stereotype of an area that is structurally lagging behind the rest of the country. However, the gap with the North remains wide, and the wealth produced per capita in the South remains significantly lower, said Unioncamere President Andrea Prete. He added- The decline in manufacturing is also worrying, a sign of a difficulty that tariffs and tensions on exports could accentuate with a significant impact on GDP. This is another reason why there is an urgent need for a genuine industrial policy capable of enhancing the specific characteristics of the territory and removing obstacles to competitiveness, starting with the cost of energy, which is still significantly higher than that of European competitors.
The comeback of the “land”
2024 marks a boom in agriculture, which sees a 10.25% increase in wealth produced (partly due to inflationary pressures that have affected this sector more than others) and reaches €40 billion, the highest value since historical data became available. Record increases are recorded in Abruzzo (+31.17%), which takes the top four positions in the provincial ranking with L’Aquila, Pescara, Chieti, and Teramo. Sicily, on the other hand, bucks the trend, being the only Italian region to record a decline (-5.54%), with all its provinces at the bottom of the ranking, led by Palermo (-6.89%).
…while industry declines
Signs of distress, however, are emerging from the manufacturing sector. In 2024, the entire industrial sector—extractive, manufacturing, and utilities—will record a 4.1% decline compared to 2023, interrupting a virtuous cycle of continuous growth that began in 2015 (net of the setback in 2020 due to the outbreak of the pandemic).
The only exceptions are eight provinces that closed last year with a positive sign, led by Reggio Calabria (+3.08%), Viterbo (+1.64%), and Rieti (+1.60%). This is a worrying figure, given that industry in the strict sense has been an important driver of development over the years. Between 2000 and 2024, in fact, the 16 provinces where this sector’s impact on the local economy increased also recorded a higher average annual increase in added value (+2.5%), with peaks in Bolzano (+3.3%). Meanwhile, in the 91 provinces that saw a decline in the sector’s weight over the same period, the increase appears to be more modest (+2.2% per year).
