The least “spendthrifts” are the inhabitants of Biella, who manage to set aside up to 15.4% of their income. And in general the North-West of Italy seems to have a good capacity for savings. The South, however, ends up at the bottom of the ranking of families’ propensity to save, drawn up by the Study Center of the Guglielmo Tagliacarne Chambers of Commerce. In the homes of Ragusa, Crotone And Syracuse it is possible to set aside only 4.6% of the assets.
The North-South divide
The report shows a South that is less prudent than the North, but this also depends on the wealth (and income) gap between the territories. The analysis is based on gross savings, an aggregate figure that indicates the part of gross income in 2022 not used for final consumption. The northern provinces occupy the first 19 positions in the ranking, while the last 20 places go to 18 southern provinces. «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”, explains the general director of the Tagliacarne Study Center, Gaetano Fausto Esposito. However, there are some virtuous improvements, with Bari and Matera having developed a greater ability to set aside resources, recovering 7 positions compared to last year.
In the province you save more than in the city
A disproportion concerns the two main cities of the country for economic flows, that is Rome And Milan. 18.4% of Italy’s piggy banks are concentrated here but, according to the study centre, family income rewards the Italian province. Above all, those from the North West stand out, occupying the very top positions in the ranking. Piedmont is in the lead with an average saving of 11% which reaches peaks of 15.4% in cities like Biella, the most attentive to consumption ever. This is followed by Lombardy provinces such as Pavia And Cremona, among the top 10 ranked. However, cities with less than 400 thousand inhabitants save the most. The first big saving city is Genoaeleventh in the ranking, followed by Milan, Rome and Turin.
Foreign families and singles are the most attentive
Foreign families contribute decisively to savings, leading to full piggy banks especially in provinces with family compositions higher than the national average, 48 according to the report. Single-member families, i.e. singles, also set aside more resources. Biella, Vercelli and Asti, the cities with the most singles in Italy are among the top three ranked with savings of up to 13%. And in the 45 provinces in which the share of romantically free people exceeds the national average, the propensity to save is 9.1%, compared to the national figure of 8.1%.
