NUTS-3 ITG18 · Italy
Population
321,3002025
GDP
€7,095M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
12.2%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
51.4%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,618.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
ITG18 · ITF48
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Ragusa (Opportunity 39). Runner-up: Barletta-Andria-Trani (36).
#1Ragusa
Strengths
Demographic outlook (86) · Cost advantage (71)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Talent & skills (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 15 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Strengths
Cost advantage (70) · Demographic outlook (64)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Talent & skills (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Air quality (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Ragusa
Labour market (EU bottom 15%); Talent & skills (EU bottom 15%); Industrial base (EU bottom 15%); Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%); Long-run slide: down 15 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Labour market (EU pctl 1) — Barletta-Andria-Trani may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Ragusa leads under all four archetype mandates — the recommendation is weight-stable.
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
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
38.9
36.1
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
52.5
42.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
30.8
22.2
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
12.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
19.0
27.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
7.0
12.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
60.8
46.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
3.9% 5y
2.9% 5y
Population
0.4% 5y
0.4% 5y
Unemployment rate
6.9% 5y
3.9% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€22,083
€19,920
Population density
199 /km²
246 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€6,374M
€6,748M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€595M
€279M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€611M
€936M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€479M
€812M
GVA — construction (F)
€518M
€475M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,534M
€1,599M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€16,800
€17,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
23,100 PPS
20,600 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€22,300
€19,800
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€24,161M
€21,133M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,214M
€1,693M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€40,753M
€36,660M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€933M
€1,041M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€101M
€55M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,568M
€1,828M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,548M
€1,630M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€6,658M
€6,825M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€60,063
€61,293
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,626M
€1,749M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
120,200
126,400
Self-employed persons
30,400
37,300
Employment in manufacturing (C)
9,300
17,500
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
54.1%
56.8%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
33.8%
32.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
12.2%
10.0%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
115,900
144,700
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
21,511
26,333
Enterprise births
1,676
1,787
Enterprise deaths
1,195
1,573
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.6%
3.9%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.0%
0.8%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.6%
2.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.7%
0.8%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
16.9%
18.5%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
24.0%
27.8%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
7.2%
8.2%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
15.8%
17.2%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
3.9%
4.6%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
90.9%
91.5%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,417,268
588,157
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
733 /1k
649 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
7,673 kt
4,221 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
5
3
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
2
1
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
28 km/1000km²
16 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
72
52
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
207,704
246,267
Population aged 65+
70,072
83,672
Population aged under 15
43,524
47,154
Median age of population
45.5 yrs
47.1 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
33.7%
34.0%
Crude rate of total population change
6.4 /1k
-2.2 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
8.4 /1k
0.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.6 /1k
6.6 /1k
Crude death rate
9.6 /1k
9.2 /1k
Live births
2,441
2,509
Deaths
3,078
3,460
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
54.7%
53.1%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.35
1.18
Population density (persons per km²)
198 /km²
253 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
340,333
284,806
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
44.0%
35.0%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.6 yrs
83.5 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
38.4%
27.6%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
288 /100k
274 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,031 /100k
946 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
209 /100k
211 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.6 /100k
0.8 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
20.1 /100k
40.6 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
855 /100k
1,725 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
50 /M
62 /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)
560 m
229 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
36 days/yr
59 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
2 days/yr
7 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
5 days/yr