Economic growth in 2023: the South exceeds the national average in GDP and employment

In 2023, economic growth was more intense in the Middle of the South, which in 2022 had shown trends below the national average, and in the North-West. This is how ISTAT specifies that the GDP increased in volume by 1.3% in the South and 1% in the North-West, compared to more moderate dynamics in the North-East (+0.8%) and, above all, in the Centre (+0.5%). The national average last year was +0.9%. In terms of employment, the Mezzogiorno was also the area that made the greatest contribution to growth, with an increase in the number of employed reaching 2.5%. Employment growth in the remaining areas was more contained (North-East +2%, North-West +1.5% and Centre +1.2%). The national average was +1.8%.

Construction, ISTAT explains, is confirmed in 2023 as the leading sector of the economy in southern Italy, recording a 4.6% growth in added value in the area. Financial, real estate and professional services (+3.3%), trade, public establishments, transport and telecommunications (+1.6%) and other services (+0.9%) also contributed to the positive performance of the South. On the other hand, negative results were recorded in agriculture, with a drop in value added in volume of 3.2%, and in industry in the narrow sense, whose contraction (-0.5%) was, however, below average.

As in the other areas of the country, growth in the North-West was sustained by the construction sector, whose added value increased by 2.7%. Agriculture also did well, a unique case in Italy, which recorded a 6.3% increase in added value in volume terms. A positive trend was observed in the financial, real estate and professional services (+2.3%) and trade, public establishments, transport and telecommunications (+2.2%) sectors, where added value increased in line with and above the national average, respectively. Only the sector of industry in the narrow sense declined, whose value added in volume fell by 1.3%. GDP growth in the North-East was still led by the construction sector (+3.5%) and trade, public establishments, transport and telecommunications (+2.1%). The contribution of the financial, real estate and professional services sector was positive (+1.5%), in which added value nevertheless recorded modest growth compared to other areas of the country. The sector of industry in the narrow sense held its own, recording the best result in the country and keeping the level of added value in volume substantially unchanged from the previous year (-0.2%). On the other hand, a drastic reduction was observed in the added value of agriculture (-5.1%), Istat further reports. In the Central Regions, the construction and other services sectors were the most dynamic sectors in the country, recording growth rates in added value of 5.8% and 1.1%, respectively. In line with the national average, however, was the performance of the financial, real estate and professional services sector, whose added value increased by 2.3%. The positive results of these sectors were partly offset by the performance of the agriculture and industry sectors in the narrow sense, whose value added fell by 6.1% and 2.6% respectively.

With reference to employment, trade, public establishments, transport and telecommunications was the most dynamic sector at national level, with a variation that peaked in the North-East (+4.4%). Another expanding sector was financial, real estate and professional services, which reached particularly high levels of growth in the Mezzogiorno (+4.6%). In this area, employment in the industry sector in the narrow sense recorded a change of 3.3%, higher than the national average growth. By contrast, employment in agriculture in the North declined by 4.9% and 4.8% in the North-West and North-East, respectively.