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The people of Biella are the most “prudent” people in Italy, with a propensity to save 15.4% of their disposable income in 2022. Followed by the inhabitants of Vercelli (13.8%) and Asti (13.1%). While on the opposite front in Ragusa, Crotone and Syracuse, families manage to put aside only 4.6% of their income. Overall, it is in the North West that the population shows a greater ability to save (10.8%), compared to a national average of 8.4%, with peaks of 11.1% in Piedmont, “hot on the heels” of Lombardy (10.8%) and Emilia Romagna (10.1%), which displaces Liguria, which slipped to fourth position compared to 2019. Those who find it more difficult to set aside a small nest egg for the future are, however, residents in the South , also due to lower income, and in metropolitan cities where the higher cost of living probably weighs.
This is what emerges from the first survey that quantifies the propensity to save of families* at provincial level carried out by Guglielmo Tagliacarne Study Center.
Tab.1-Amount of household savings and relative propensity (savings/disposable income ratio in percentage values) in the Italian regions. Year 2022
| Region | Savings (millions of euros) | Propensity to save | Region | Savings (millions of euros) | Propensity to save |
| Piedmont | 11,013.3 | 11.1 | Molise | 423.1 | 8.5 |
| Valle d’Aosta/Vallée d’Aoste | 240.5 | 8.3 | Puglia | 4,143.1 | 6.5 |
| Liguria | 3,665.8 | 10.1 | Basilicata | 734.7 | 8.3 |
| Lombardy | 27,476.0 | 10.8 | Calabria | 1,733.3 | 6.2 |
| Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol | 2,052.8 | 7.3 | Sicily | 4,029.2 | 5.3 |
| Veneto | 8,599.3 | 7.9 | Sardinia | 1,520.4 | 5.4 |
| Friuli Venezia Giulia | 2,034.6 | 7.3 | |||
| Emilia Romagna | 11,121.6 | 10.1 | Northwest | 42,395.6 | 10.8 |
| Marche | 2,343.2 | 7.5 | North East | 23,808.4 | 8.7 |
| Tuscany | 6,335.6 | 7.7 | Center | 19,015.7 | 7.4 |
| Umbria | 1,118.7 | 6.5 | South | 14,747.1 | 6.9 |
| Lazio | 9,218.3 | 7.2 | Islands | 5,549.6 | 5.3 |
| Campania | 6,110.5 | 7.1 | |||
| Abruzzo | 1,602.3 | 7.0 | Italy | 105,516.4 | 8.4 |
Source: Elaboration by Centro Studi Tagliacarne, Unioncamere
“If in absolute value the two “Capitals” of the country, Milan and Rome, concentrate 18.4% of the country’s savings, the situation is very different in relation to the income of families which, instead, “rewards” the Italian province. Testifying to the still strong role of these smaller entities in power to also fuel the investment process of local family businesses.” This is what he underlined Gaetano Fausto Esposito, general director of the Centro Studi Tagliacarne which adds. “Many situations in the South are in the bottom positions, but it must be considered that family income in the South is around 32% lower than that in the Centre-North, which also translates into a necessary greater propensity to consume, in particular of primary goods. Suffice it to say that from 2014 to 2022 the incidence of average monthly expenditure on food products in the South went from 21.7 to 23.5% of total purchases. And this is also due to a sharp acceleration in the prices of these goods which, after the pandemic, grew more in the South than in the country as a whole”.
“Piggy banks” are fuller in the North, less so in the South
The geography of savings confirms the distances between the North and the South, primarily the result of the different amount of disposable income. In the top 20 positions in the provincial ranking of Italians’ propensity to save, 19 are from the North. While on the opposite front, 18 southern provinces occupy the last 20 positions in the ranking. However, in the South, 16 provinces recorded a recovery of positions in the ranking for propensity to save compared to 2019, among which the cases of Bari and Matera stand out, both with a recovery of seven positions.
In small provinces the propensity to save is higher
It is in the smaller province that the greatest propensity to save is recorded, so in the first ten positions of the relative ranking we find Biella, Vercelli, Asti, Modena, Varese, Alessandria, Pavia, Novara, Piacenza, Cremona, i.e. provinces that in the majority of cases do not exceed 400,000 inhabitants.
While you have to scroll down to the eleventh place occupied by Genoa, to find the first metropolitan city for propensity to save, followed in twelfth position by Milan. The capital, however, is placed in 60th position, although up four positions compared to 2019. But looking at the ranking of household savings in absolute values, Milan is at the top, “chased” by Rome and Turin.
Foreign savers
Those who manage to put aside some of their income are mainly residents in provinces with a significant presence of foreign families. In particular, in the 48 provinces that have a higher incidence of families composed solely of foreigners than the national average, the propensity to save stands at 9.1% compared to 7.5% in the other provinces as a whole. Among these provinces we note Modena, Cremona and Cuneo which see a propensity to save oscillating between 11 and 13%:
Singles save more than more structured families
Another target that seems able to set aside resources more than average are singles. In the 45 provinces in which the share of single-member families exceeds the national average, the propensity to save is 9.1%, compared to the national figure of 8.1%. It is perhaps no coincidence that the three provinces that made the podium for propensity to save all have a higher share of single families than the national average.
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