In 10 years, Italy has lost one fifth of its enterprises led by young people. At the end of 2021, the 137,000 enterprises registered, led by people aged under 35, are -20% than 2012 and only represent 8.9% of the national productive fabric. At the end of 2012, it was 11.1%. This reduction is more consistent in some regions (Marche, Abruzzo, and Tuscany), where it is around 30%, but it extends with double-digit variations throughout the country, with the exception of Trentino Alto Adige, where young businesses have grown by 6.5%.
These data have been illustrated in recent days by the Secretary General of Unioncamere, Giuseppe Tripoli, at the conference "The future of work", organised within the Meeting of Rimini.
According to Unioncamere-Infocamere, these data are partly the result of the high number of young Italians who left the country to look for work and fortune abroad (90.000 in 2019 alone - Istat data) and partly because young entrepreneurs are discouraged by the administrative difficulties involved in starting up a business.
The hope lies in the innovative start-ups: out of almost 14.000 innovative start-ups, 15.7% were created by young people, with an incidence that is almost 7% higher than that which the youth component has on the total of businesses. In particular, people under 35 seem to have focused in recent years on some areas of knowledge including business services, design studies, the world of advertising, research and development activities, and education.