NUTS-3 ITC41 · Italy
Varese
Varese generates €32bn of GDP across 882.6k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 65.1/100 puts it in the upper quartile of EU regions, led by economic scale and market access. Its economy has grown +3.1%/yr over five years and accelerating, with the employment rate up 3.3pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for health (92.5th EU percentile) and weakest for clean environment (10th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Long-run faller86 → 57 EU percentile since 1995 (-29 ranks)
Yearly EU-wide percentile of real GDP per head (ARDECO regional accounts, constant 2020 prices, derived over population). 50 = the EU median that year; percentiles are scale-free, so decades are directly comparable. See the backtest for what long-run prosperity ranks do — and don't — anticipate.
Mandate pillar profile · EU percentiles (screener dimensions)
Industrial base80
Demographic outlook73
Economic base65
Connectivity65
Digital readiness58
Quality of life49
Energy cost46
Resilience41
Growth momentum39
Cost advantage37
Talent & skills30
Labour market26
Freight intensity25
Governance20
Each bar is this region's EU percentile on a screener pillar (higher = better for siting; cost & energy are inverted so cheap scores high). These are the exact weights you tune in the Site Screener.
Opportunity Index · composite triage (experimental)
65.1
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth39.4
Livability48.9
Market access82
Economic scale90
Equal-weighted mean of four EU-percentile pillars (deliberately orthogonal: growth=trend, livability=quality, market=distance-weighted demand proxy, scale=absolute GDP). Experimental — a screening triage, not investment advice.
Resilience Index · downside / risk lens (experimental)
41.3
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability43
Labour stability47
Diversification33
Demographic stability42
Inverse of GDP-growth & unemployment volatility (since 2008, incl. 2009/2020 shocks), economic diversification (inverse HHI) and population stability — each EU-percentile-ranked. Higher withstands downturns better. Experimental.
Connectivity Index · transit · air · market access (experimental)
64.7
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density31
Airport access81
Market access82
Public-transport stop density, proximity to a major airport, and gravity access to surrounding economic mass — each EU-percentile-ranked. Higher = better-connected. Experimental.
Talent & Human Capital Index · skills base (experimental)
29.5
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary27
Lifelong learning62
Knowledge workers19
Scientists & engineers10
Young tertiary attainment (25–34), adult lifelong learning, knowledge-worker share and scientists & engineers — each EU-percentile-ranked. Higher = deeper talent pool. Experimental.
Quality of Life · composite (experimental)
48.9
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy64
Jobs57
Education23
Health92.5
Safety51.3
Connectivity44.5
Environment10
Equal-weighted percentile across 6 pillars vs all EU NUTS-3; lower-is-better indicators (crime, unemployment, mortality) inverted. Experimental — regional screening only.
Growth momentum · trend analytics
39.4
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+3.1%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+2.3%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+0.8 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
-0.5 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
-0.1%
CAGR
Employment rate
+3.3 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
-2.1 pp
5-yr change
Compound annual growth to the latest available year vs all EU NUTS-3; GDP is nominal EUR (“vs country avg” removes most national inflation). Screening signal, not a forecast.
Economic structure · gross value added by sector
Dominant: Finance · real estate · prof. · 28.4%Diversified · HHI 2360
Agriculture 0.5%Industry 27.4%Construction 5%Trade · transport · ICT 23.1%Finance · real estate · prof. 28.4%Public · health · education 15.5%
Share of total GVA (latest year). HHI = sum of squared sector shares ×10,000; higher means a more concentrated, single-sector-dependent economy (more cyclicality risk).
Trends · 2009–2023
GDP (current prices)
€31,650M2023
5.4% 1y 3.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 90
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€28,819M2025
0.6% 1y 2.9% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 90
Population
882,5922025
0.3% 1y 0.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 93
Unemployment rate
2.9%2025
19.4% 1y 10.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 9
Employment
360,6002023
1.5% 1y 0.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 89
Productivity / employee
€90,4192025
1.4% 1y 5.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 66
Gross value added
€28,433M2023
5.5% 1y 3.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 90
All indicators · 87 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€28,433M
2023 · EU pctl 90
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€155M
2023 · EU pctl 52
GVA — industry (B–E)
€7,803M
2023 · EU pctl 93
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€7,402M
2023 · EU pctl 95
GVA — construction (F)
€1,416M
2023 · EU pctl 88
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€6,582M
2023 · EU pctl 90
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€26,600
2024 · EU pctl 63 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
37,300 PPS
2023 · EU pctl 65
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€36,000
2023 · EU pctl 53
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€101,220M
2023 · EU pctl 98 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€19,922M
2023 · EU pctl 98 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€188,904M
2023 · EU pctl 98 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€3,797M
2023 · EU pctl 88
GVA — information & communication (J)
€638M
2023 · EU pctl 79
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€8,073M
2023 · EU pctl 91
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€4,402M
2023 · EU pctl 84
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€28,819M
2025 · EU pctl 90
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€90,419
2025 · EU pctl 66
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€6,630M
2025 · EU pctl 89
Labour market
Employment, total persons
360,600
2023 · EU pctl 89
Self-employed persons
79,500
2023 · EU pctl 95
Employment in manufacturing (C)
86,100
2023 · EU pctl 97
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
71.7%
2025 · EU pctl 15 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
10.9%
2025 · EU pctl 38 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
2.9%
2025 · EU pctl 9
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
406,900
2025 · EU pctl 91
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
66,562
2023 · EU pctl 90
Enterprise births
4,858
2023 · EU pctl 84
Enterprise deaths
3,839
2023 · EU pctl 82
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.7%
2023 · EU pctl 28
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
1.2%
2023 · EU pctl 34 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
5.3%
2025 · EU pctl 70 · NUTS-2 src
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE)
1.6%
2023 · EU pctl 70 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
23.6%
2025 · EU pctl 12 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
34.0%
2025 · EU pctl 27 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
11.8%
2025 · EU pctl 62 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
18.7%
2025 · EU pctl 19 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
5.2%
2025 · EU pctl 10 · NUTS-2 src
Digital
Households with internet access
96.0%
2025 · EU pctl 58 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
3,269,803
2025 · EU pctl 80
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
640 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 74 · NUTS-2 src
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,560
CURRENT · EU pctl 71
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
16,055 kt
2025 · EU pctl 80
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
177
CURRENT · EU pctl 31
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²)
32 km/1000km²
2024 · EU pctl 69 · NUTS-2 src
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
24
CURRENT · EU pctl 19
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
CURRENT · EU pctl 75
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
554,917
2025 · EU pctl 92
Population aged 65+
221,133
2025 · EU pctl 94
Population aged under 15
106,542
2025 · EU pctl 88
Median age of population
49.3 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 79
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
39.8%
2025 · EU pctl 67
Crude rate of total population change
2.6 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 61
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
7.2 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 72
Crude birth rate
6.2 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 18
Crude death rate
10.8 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 36
Live births
5,471
2024 · EU pctl 88
Deaths
9,517
2024 · EU pctl 94
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.0%
2025 · EU pctl 48
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.19
2024 · EU pctl 19
Population density (persons per km²)
812 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 88
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
771,778
2100 · EU pctl 91
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants
322 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 27 · NUTS-2 src
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
835 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 10 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
222 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 39 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.6 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 43
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
30.8 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 65
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,152 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 70
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
38 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 33 · NUTS-2 src
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.72
2022 · EU pctl 20
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.60
2022 · EU pctl 14
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.57
2022 · EU pctl 20
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.57
2022 · EU pctl 15
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.41
2022 · EU pctl 25
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.159/kWh
2025-S2 · EU pctl 54
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.048/kWh
2025-S2 · EU pctl 19
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
550 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 83
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
6 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 39
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
61 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 54
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
25 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 98
Environment
NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) annual mean concentration — a traffic / combustion pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
21
2024 · EU pctl 90
O3 (ground-level ozone) annual mean concentration — a summer-smog pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data).
47
2024 · EU pctl 17
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
102 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 88
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
0.4%
2021 · EU pctl 10
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Italy regions