Italy

Italy has a diversified industrial economy, which is divided into a developed industrial north, dominated by private companies, and a less-developed, welfare-dependent, agricultural south, with high unemployment. 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 15% of GDP. These activities are most common within the agriculture, construction, and service sectors. Italy has moved slowly on implementing needed structural reforms, such as reducing graft, overhauling costly entitlement programs, and increasing employment opportunities for young workers, particularly women. The international financial crisis worsened conditions in Italy’s labor market, with unemployment rising from 6.2% in 2007 to 8.4% in 2010, but in the longer-term Italy’s low fertility rate and quota-driven immigration policies will increasingly strain its economy. A rise in exports and investment driven by the global economic recovery nevertheless helped the economy grow by about 1% in 2010 following a 5% contraction in 2009. The Italian government has struggled to limit government spending, but Italy’s exceedingly high public debt remains above 115% of GDP, and its fiscal deficit - just 1.5% of GDP in 2007 - exceeded 5% in 2009 and 2010, as the costs of servicing the country’s debt rose.

$1.782 trillion (2010 est.)

$1.763 trillion (2009 est.)

$1.857 trillion (2008 est.)

$2.037 trillion (2010 est.)

1.1% (2010 est.)

-5.1% (2009 est.)

-1.3% (2008 est.)

$30,700 (2010 est.)

$30,300 (2009 est.)

$31,900 (2008 est.)

25.05 million (2010 est.)

8.4% (2010 est.)

7.8% (2009 est.)

NA%

32 (2006)

27.3 (1995)

19.1% of GDP (2010 est.)

118.1% of GDP (2010 est.)

115.8% of GDP (2009 est.)

1.4% (2010 est.)

0.8% (2009 est.)

1.75% (31 December 2009)

3% (31 December 2008)

10.26% (31 December 2009 est.)

11.31% (31 December 2008 est.)

$1.234 trillion (31 December 2010 est)

$1.267 trillion (31 December 2009 est)

$1.884 trillion (31 December 2010 est.)

$1.846 trillion (31 December 2009 est.)

$3.274 trillion (31 December 2009 est.)

$3.047 trillion (31 December 2008 est.)

$317.3 billion (31 December 2009)

$520.9 billion (31 December 2008)

$1.073 trillion (31 December 2007)

fruits, vegetables, grapes, potatoes, sugar beets, soybeans, grain, olives; beef, dairy products; fish

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

0.5% (2010 est.)

289.7 billion kWh (2007 est.)

315 billion kWh (2007 est.)

3.431 billion kWh (2008 est.)

43 billion kWh (2008 est.)

146,500 bbl/day (2009 est.)

1.537 million bbl/day (2009 est.)

586,900 bbl/day (2008 est.)

1.911 million bbl/day (2008 est.)

423.7 million bbl (1 January 2010 est.)

8.119 billion cu m (2009 est.)

78.12 billion cu m (2009 est.)

124 million cu m (2009 est.)

69.24 billion cu m (2009 est.)

69.83 billion cu m (1 January 2010 est.)

-$61.98 billion (2010 est.)

-$66.2 billion (2009 est.)

$458.4 billion (2010 est.)

$407.2 billion (2009 est.)

engineering products, textiles and clothing, production machinery, motor vehicles, transport equipment, chemicals; food, beverages and tobacco; minerals, and nonferrous metals

Germany 12.6%, France 11.57%, US 5.92%, Spain 5.69%, UK 5.13%, Switzerland 4.69% (2009)

$459.7 billion (2010 est.)

$403.9 billion (2009 est.)

engineering products, chemicals, transport equipment, energy products, minerals and nonferrous metals, textiles and clothing; food, beverages, and tobacco

Germany 16.68%, France 8.82%, China 6.53%, Netherlands 5.63%, Spain 4.3%, Russia 4.12%, Belgium 4.08% (2009)

$NA (31 December 2010 est.)

$132.8 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$2.223 trillion (30 June 2010 est.)

$2.328 trillion (31 December 2008)

$405.1 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$368.9 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$601.1 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$555.2 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

euros (EUR) per US dollar - 0.7715 (2010), 0.7179 (2009), 0.6827 (2008), 0.7345 (2007), 0.7964 (2006)