Il disposable income of Italian families recorded growth on a national scale between 2021 and 2023, but the The rates of increase have been very different depending on the geographical areas. The provinces of Northern Italy, and in particular the Alpine ones, have seen increases much higher than the rest of the country. The Alpine provinces mark the highest increase in income with a +13,4%, while the provinces of Central and Southern Italy grow by an average of 11,2%, with the Centro which saw the lowest growth rate, equal to +10,3%.
This is what emerges from theanalysis by Unioncamere-Guglielmo Tagliacarne Study Centre on the 2023 estimates of the disposable income of consumer families, a measure of the spending capacity of the population resident in Italy.
A provincial level, there are some areas of Northern Italy that have recorded truly significant increases. Sondrio, Belluno and Imperia have stood out with increases exceeding 15%, with Sondrio in first place with a +17%. The national average stopped at +11,3%, while Rome, with an increase in income of +9,5%, has positioned itself in 94th place in the provincial ranking.
In terms of disposable income per capita, Milan confirms itself as the province with the highest income, equal to 34.885 euros per person, almost two and a half times higher than that of Foggia, which closes the ranking with only 14.554 euros per capita.
Growth in income from employment
A key component of disposable income growth is the employee income, which is the main source of income for Italian families. From 2021 to 2023, income from employment is increased by 11,8%, a slightly higher pace than the overall increase in disposable income (+11,3%). In general, in 55 out of 107 provinces, income from employment increased more than disposable income. At the provincial level, the growth in income from employment showed best performance in Southern Italy, with an increase of 12,5%, which reaches peaks of 14,2% in Abruzzo and 13,8% in Sicily. On the contrary, Central Italy has registered less significant increases, with a +10,8%.
Between the provinces which have seen the highest increases in income from employment are L'Aquila (+18,5%), Teramo (+18,1%) and Sondrio (+17,9%). In bucking, some provinces in the North and Centre, such as Terni (+7,3%), Pordenone (+6,2%) and Trieste (+6,1%), showed much slower growth.
Milan Queen, Foggia Last, Belluno's Climb
In the three-year period analysed, some provinces saw notable improvements in their ranking by disposable income per capita. Milan, Bolzano e Monza and Brianza continue to dominate the podium with average per capita incomes of 34.885, 31.160 and 29.452 euros respectively. At the bottom of the list we find Foggia with 14.554 euros per capita, followed by Caserta (14.683 euros) e Agrigento (14.802 euros), despite the growth rates of disposable income in these provinces having reached 9,1%, 11,1% and 12,8% respectively in the period considered. A great leap, however, for Belluno that climbs the rankings, gaining 10 positions, moving from 33rd to 23rd place, thanks to an increase in disposable income. Other provinces that have seen noteworthy improvements include Sondrio, which gained 9 positions, and Venice, which jumped 7 places. They lose positions, Pordenone (-10), slipping to 25th place, while Udine and Trieste drop 9 and 8 positions, settling at 36th and 18th place.
" geography of income of families outlines a picture that we can define more 'democratic' compared to that of production, because the territorial distances appear less accentuated: while for the added value per capita the distance between the first province and the last is 3,6 times, this difference is reduced to 2,4 times for the disposable income". This is underlined by the general director of the Tagliacarne Study Center, Gaetano Fausto Esposito, according to which "this also depends on public transfers which, for example, in the South, although decreasing, account for 40% against the 35% of the Italian average. Furthermore, in the South the dynamics of wages from dependent work, in nominal terms, also reflects the economic growth recorded in recent years. However, the employee wages in the South they remain about 15% lower than the national average. A signal that should not be overlooked, in addition, is the delay we are seeing in Central Italy, whose disposable income, between 2021 and 2023, is growing less than that of the rest of the country”.
