NUTS-3 ITC41 · Italy
Population
882,5922025
GDP
€31,650M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
75.1%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,198.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
ITC41 · ITH36
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Varese (Opportunity 65). Runner-up: Padova (62). Contrarian pick: Padova — leads the set on Economic base (EU pctl 80).
#1Varese
Strengths
Industrial base (80) · Demographic outlook (73)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 29 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
#2Padova
Strengths
Economic base (80) · Industrial base (79)
Red flags
Flood: 30% of population in the 100-year floodplain
Long-run slide: down 13 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Varese
Long-run slide: down 29 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Governance (EU pctl 20) — Padova may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Padova · Manufacturing → Padova · Office → Varese · Residential → Padova.
Phase-2 diligence checklist
- Site-level grid connection capacity and power pricing (beyond country-grain energy data)
- Local incentives, tax regimes and permitting timelines
- Workforce depth for your specific roles (the talent pillar is a proxy)
- Real-estate availability, rents and land — public pan-EU data stops at the Nordics
- Flood defences, return-period design and insurance for flagged regions
This is a mandate-neutral read. To weight the pillars to your thesis, run these regions through the Site Screener — it ranks all 1,211 regions under your weights and exports the full PDF. First-pass macro screening, not investment advice.
Composite intelligence · 0–100 EU-percentile scores
Opportunity Indexscale + growth + access + structure
65.1
61.6
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
41.3
49.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
48.9
43.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
64.7
47.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
29.5
27.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
39.4
48.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.9% 5y
2.8% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.0% 5y
Unemployment rate
10.3% 5y
11.3% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€35,861
€41,991
Population density
736 /km²
441 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 87 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€28,433M
€35,168M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€155M
€499M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€7,803M
€9,668M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€7,402M
€9,075M
GVA — construction (F)
€1,416M
€2,247M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€6,582M
€8,239M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€26,600
€23,500
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
37,300 PPS
43,600 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€36,000
€42,000
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€101,220M
€45,490M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€19,922M
€10,941M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€188,904M
€75,959M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€3,797M
€4,045M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€638M
€1,208M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€8,073M
€9,198M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€4,402M
€5,316M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€28,819M
€35,264M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€90,419
€85,694
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€6,630M
€9,170M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
360,600
468,500
Self-employed persons
79,500
109,800
Employment in manufacturing (C)
86,100
103,700
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
71.7%
71.8%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
10.9%
13.7%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
2.9%
3.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
406,900
440,700
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
66,562
84,949
Enterprise births
4,858
5,716
Enterprise deaths
3,839
4,878
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.7%
3.6%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.2%
1.2%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
5.3%
3.2%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.6%
1.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
23.6%
21.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
34.0%
33.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
11.8%
13.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
18.7%
17.0%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
5.2%
5.0%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
96.0%
94.5%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
3,269,803
5,280,130
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
640 /1k
680 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,560
102
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
16,055 kt
27,591 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
177
11
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
32 km/1000km²
40 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
24
42
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
3
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
554,917
594,259
Population aged 65+
221,133
229,714
Population aged under 15
106,542
108,311
Median age of population
49.3 yrs
49.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
39.8%
38.7%
Crude rate of total population change
2.6 /1k
0.7 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
7.2 /1k
4.9 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.2 /1k
6.1 /1k
Crude death rate
10.8 /1k
10.2 /1k
Live births
5,471
5,677
Deaths
9,517
9,549
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.0%
56.9%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.19
1.15
Population density (persons per km²)
812 /km²
443 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
771,778
849,806
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
12.5%
14.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
84.4 yrs
84.6 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
9.2%
12.4%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
322 /100k
307 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
835 /100k
825 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
222 /100k
200 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.6 /100k
0.6 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
30.8 /100k
30.1 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,152 /100k
1,130 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
38 /M
55 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.72
0.72
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.60
0.60
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.57
0.57
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.57
0.57
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.41
0.41
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.159/kWh
€0.159/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.048/kWh
€0.048/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
550 m
15 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
6 days/yr
45 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
61 days/yr
39 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
25 days/yr
11 days/yr