Architecture

Economy of Italy

Italy has a highly developed social market economy. It is the third-largest national economy in the European Union, the 8th-largest economy in the world by nominal GDP, and the 12th-largest by PPP-adjusted GDP. The country has the second-largest manufacturing industry in Europe and the 7th-largest in the world. Italy has a diversified economy which is dominated by the tertiary service sector. The country is a great power, and is a founding member of the European Union, the eurozone, the Schengen Area, the OECD, the G7 and the G20; it is the eighth-largest exporter in the world, with goods and services worth $611 billion exported in 2021. Its primary trade partners are the other countries of the European Union, with whom it conducts about 59% of its total trade. Its largest trading partners are Germany (12.5%) and France (10.3%), followed by the United States (9%), Spain (5.2%), the United Kingdom (5.2%) and Switzerland (4.6%). In the post-World War II period, Italy saw a transformation from an agricultural-based economy which had been severely affected by the consequences of the World Wars, into one of the world's most advanced nations, and a leading country in world trade and exports. According to the Human Development Index, the country enjoys a very high standard of living. According to The Economist, Italy has the world's 8th highest quality of life. Italy owns the world's third-largest gold reserve, and is the third-largest net contributor to the budget of the European Union. Furthermore, the advanced country private wealth is one of the largest in the world. In terms of private wealth, Italy ranks second, after Hong Kong, in private wealth to GDP ratio. Among OECD members, Italy has a highly efficient and strong social security system, which comprises roughly 24.4% of GDP. Italy is the world's seventh-largest manufacturing country, characterised by a smaller number of global multinational corporations than other economies of comparable size and many dynamic small and medium-sized enterprises, notoriously clustered in several industrial districts, which are the backbone of the Italian economy. Italy is a large manufacturer and exporter of a significant variety of products. Its products include machinery, vehicles, pharmaceuticals, furniture, food and clothing. Italy has a significant trade surplus.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸Benjamin Mountfort
• ▸Giza pyramid complex
• ▸Bari Cathedral

Uncatalogued shelf

Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.