SOUND ECONOMY

The Emilia-Romagna region comprises 330 municipalities that are grouped into one Metropolitan City (Bologna) and 8 provinces (Ferrara, Forlì-Cesena, Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Ravenna, Reggio Emilia and Rimini). The regional population amounts to 4,482,977 residents (RER, 1/1/2025).

The economic system is increasingly focused on international markets and features: high rate of entrepreneurship, strong manufacturing sector, high level of innovation, wealth per capita higher than the Italian and European average.

 

Emilia-Romagna vs Italy - regional percentage of the national value

 

Total number of regional companies and employees
N. of regional companies

387,188

 N. of regional employees

1,782,931

Source Infocamere 2025 (Q1)

 

Emilia-Romagna has a strong manufacturing sector, strongly export-oriented, with a GDP per capita much higher than the European and national average. 

 

 

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

 

Import/Export Emilia-Romagna
Export (billion euros)

83.6

 Import (billion euros)

48.6

Source Istat - Coeweb 2024

 

 

 

Variation import/export in Emilia-Romagna in the 2020-24 period
Export (% variation )

+34.9%

 Import (% variation )

+43.2%

Source: Istat. Data processing by ART-ER

 

 

 

 

ATTRACTIVENESS

 

NUMBER OF ENTERPRISES CONTROLLED BY FOREIGN COMPANIES/GROUPS IN EMILIA-ROMAGNA
Turnover > 1 million euros - Foreign Global Ultimate Owner
Source: Aida BvD 2023, data processing: ART-ER

About 1,700

 

Among the main countries of origin of foreign investments there are: USA, France, Germany, China, Switzerland, Great Britain, Japan, Spain

 

OUTWARD INTERNATIONALIZATION