NUTS-3 ITF45 · Italy
Lecce
Lecce generates €17bn of GDP across 764.5k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 43.9/100 is mid-table of EU regions, led by economic scale and economic growth. Its economy has grown +4.7%/yr over five years and accelerating, with the employment rate up 5.2pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for health (74.5th EU percentile) and weakest for jobs (4th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Persistent laggard28 → 24 EU percentile since 1995 (-4 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)
Cost advantage70
Growth momentum54
Energy cost46
Demographic outlook45
Resilience36
Air quality31
Quality of life29
Connectivity29
Governance20
Industrial base19
Economic base15
Digital readiness13
Talent & skills12
Labour market2
Freight intensity1
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)
43.9
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth54.2
Livability29.3
Market access15
Economic scale77
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)
36
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability54
Labour stability15
Diversification53
Demographic stability22
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)
28.7
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density26
Airport access45
Market access15
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)
12
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary8
Lifelong learning25
Knowledge workers11
Scientists & engineers4
Young tertiary attainment (25–34), adult lifelong learning, knowledge-worker share and scientists & engineers — each EU-percentile-ranked. Higher = deeper talent pool. Experimental.
Clean-Air Score · air-quality livability (experimental)
30.7
/ 100 · higher = cleaner air than more EU regions · 3/3 pollutants
PM2.512 µg/m³
PM1021.7 µg/m³
NO210.8 µg/m³
PM2.5, PM10 & NO2 annual means from official monitoring networks, inverted (lower pollution = higher) and EU-percentile-ranked. Higher = cleaner air; ground-level ozone is shown separately. Experimental.
Quality of Life · composite (experimental)
29.3
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy22.5
Jobs4
Education10.5
Health74.5
Safety43.3
Connectivity19.5
Environment30.7
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
54.2
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+4.7%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+3.1%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+1.5 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
+1.0 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
-0.5%
CAGR
Employment rate
+5.2 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
-4.1 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. · 28.1%Diversified · HHI 2230
Agriculture 2.4%Industry 12.1%Construction 8%Trade · transport · ICT 23.6%Finance · real estate · prof. 28.1%Public · health · education 25.8%
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)
€16,848M2023
8.1% 1y 4.7% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 77
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€15,309M2025
0.6% 1y 3.6% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 78
Population
764,4912025
0.4% 1y 0.5% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 90
Unemployment rate
10.0%2025
3.8% 1y 8.4% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 93
Employment
280,0002023
2.5% 1y 1.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 83
Productivity / employee
€62,0622025
1.4% 1y 4.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 26
Gross value added
€15,135M2023
8.2% 1y 4.9% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 77
All indicators · 88 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€15,135M
2023 · EU pctl 77
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€363M
2023 · EU pctl 79
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,831M
2023 · EU pctl 55
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,470M
2023 · EU pctl 55
GVA — construction (F)
€1,207M
2023 · EU pctl 84
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€3,572M
2023 · EU pctl 79
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€17,200
2024 · EU pctl 30 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
22,700 PPS
2023 · EU pctl 15
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€21,900
2023 · EU pctl 22
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€21,133M
2023 · EU pctl 68 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€1,693M
2023 · EU pctl 39 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€36,660M
2023 · EU pctl 55 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€2,160M
2023 · EU pctl 77
GVA — information & communication (J)
€237M
2023 · EU pctl 59
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€4,257M
2023 · EU pctl 81
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€3,905M
2023 · EU pctl 81
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€15,309M
2025 · EU pctl 78
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€62,062
2025 · EU pctl 26
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€3,923M
2025 · EU pctl 78
Labour market
Employment, total persons
280,000
2023 · EU pctl 83
Self-employed persons
78,700
2023 · EU pctl 94
Employment in manufacturing (C)
30,500
2023 · EU pctl 72
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
56.8%
2025 · EU pctl 2 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
32.6%
2025 · EU pctl 95 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
10.0%
2025 · EU pctl 93
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
279,800
2025 · EU pctl 82
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
59,163
2023 · EU pctl 88
Enterprise births
4,782
2023 · EU pctl 83
Enterprise deaths
3,365
2023 · EU pctl 80
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.4%
2023 · EU pctl 51
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
0.8%
2023 · EU pctl 18 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
2.6%
2025 · EU pctl 12 · NUTS-2 src
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE)
0.8%
2023 · EU pctl 32 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
18.5%
2025 · EU pctl 3 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
27.8%
2025 · EU pctl 8 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
8.2%
2025 · EU pctl 25 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
17.2%
2025 · EU pctl 11 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
4.6%
2025 · EU pctl 4 · NUTS-2 src
Digital
Households with internet access
91.5%
2025 · EU pctl 13 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
7,496,488
2025 · EU pctl 92
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
649 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 79 · 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.
358
CURRENT · EU pctl 31
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,811 kt
2025 · EU pctl 18
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
47
CURRENT · EU pctl 26
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²)
16 km/1000km²
2024 · EU pctl 31 · NUTS-2 src
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
59
CURRENT · EU pctl 54
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
CURRENT · EU pctl 15
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
476,361
2025 · EU pctl 90
Population aged 65+
202,877
2025 · EU pctl 93
Population aged under 15
85,253
2025 · EU pctl 82
Median age of population
50.0 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 84
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
42.6%
2025 · EU pctl 78
Crude rate of total population change
-3.6 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 22
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
2.6 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 31
Crude birth rate
5.9 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 13
Crude death rate
12.1 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 57
Live births
4,520
2024 · EU pctl 82
Deaths
9,256
2024 · EU pctl 93
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
60.5%
2025 · EU pctl 60
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.13
2024 · EU pctl 12
Population density (persons per km²)
275 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 73
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
542,247
2100 · EU pctl 83
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants
274 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 13 · NUTS-2 src
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
946 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 34 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
211 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 25 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.5 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 40
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
12.5 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 31
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
796 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 50
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
62 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 80 · 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)
89 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 25
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
69 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 96
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
2 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 4
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
7 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 75
Environment
PM10 (coarse particulate matter) annual mean concentration — mean across EEA air-quality monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
22
2024 · EU pctl 85
NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) annual mean concentration — a traffic / combustion pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
11
2024 · EU pctl 40
O3 (ground-level ozone) annual mean concentration — a summer-smog pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data).
58
2024 · EU pctl 69
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
27.0 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 48
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
1.5%
2021 · EU pctl 30
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Italy regions