Contant of the page - Back to top
Country Profile
Italy is one of the founding members of the European Union.
It is ranked 6th among OECD countries and 4th among European countries for Gross Domestic Product with a leading European share of 12%.
Italy has a diversified industrial economy.
The great strength of its economy lays in its vibrant small and medium firms, specializing both in high quality consumer goods and in high tech design and engineering products, which have won gained large shares of the global market. The small size of such companies is often offset by their belonging to and working within specialized clusters.
Over the past years, Italy has been implementing structural reforms, such as lightening the high tax burden and overhauling its labor market.
With almost 60 million consumers, the Italian market offers countless opportunities to businesses in expansion.
Thanks to its strategic location in the heart of the Mediterranean, Italy is a crucial crossroads for land, sea and air routes linking the north and south of Europe. In fact, Italy makes it easy to reach the 396 million consumers of the other Union member countries and the 240 million of North Africa and the Middle East.
