Every day for 10 consecutive years Italy has “lost” 42 companies led by Under 35. This is the balance of the last decade that has seen disappear – between closures and exceeding the administrators’ age threshold – over 153 thousand guided activities From Under 35, bringing the total number of youth enterprises from the almost 640 thousand in 2014 to 486 thousand December 2024. This is what emerges from the unioncamere-infringement analysis on the Nati-Mortality of youth enterprises Which photographs the profound transformation of the Italian entrepreneurial fabric, also driven by the demographic winter in which our society entered. If the drop has affected almost all economic sectors, however, significant differences emerge with a strong acceleration in the sign of innovation and sustainability.
The strong reduction of the perimeter triggered a significant sectoral recomposition of youth entrepreneurship. Companies services, in particular, record 3.5% growth with almost 2 thousand more youth enterprises in the decade, while agriculture maintains the presence of under 35s substantially stable (+0.06%), confirming an opportunity concrete entrepreneurial for many young people. “THEThe data is the son of the economic context but it is clear that the aging of the population has weighed on it“, comments the president of Unioncamere, Andrea Prete.” After all, according to the CNEL, in the last 20 years we have had over 2 million workers under 35 less “.
For the president of Unioncamere, however, “the new sectoral map of the youth company clearly shows a greater presence in sectors that require specialized skills and promise greater margins of innovation. The young people who today choose to do business focus on activities where the added value of competence and technology represents a distinctive and competitive factor. high intensity of knowledge and innovation “.
Problems for traditional activities
The strong downsizing of the most traditional activities echoes these transformations. Construction and trade are the sectors that paid the highest price: the first has lost almost 40 thousand companies under 35 (-38.7%), while trade saw over 66 thousand activities disappear (-36.2%). The decline recorded by manufacturing activities, where in ten years over 14 thousand companies (-35.9%) have also been heavy. The drop has particularly affected the craftsman’s world which, in the decade, has lost over 47 thousand youth enterprises (-28.1%), while the women’s business under 35 saw a contraction of over 43 thousand units (-24.5 %) and businesses led by young foreigners decreased by almost 35 thousand units (-27.4%). In terms of percentage composition, if in 2014 trade and constructions represented almost 45%of all companies under 35, today the their weight dropped to 37%. Instead, the incidence of business services (from 8.7% to 11.8%) and ICT (from 6.4% to 8%) is growing.
The geographical differences
A clear sign of how the new generations are oriented towards sectors with greater technological content and advanced services. From a territorial point of view, The retreat of youth entrepreneurship shows significant differences between the different areas of the country. Lombardy, which remains the Region with the greatest number of companies under 35 (over 74 thousand), recorded a contraction of 15.1%in the decade. Campania, second region by the presence of youth enterprises (over 61 thousand), has undergone 23.8%losses. The drop in the regions of the center is more marked, with the brands that have lost 36.7%of young companies, Umbria (-32%) and Tuscany (-31.1%). In the South, where traditionally the incidence of youth enterprises on the total of companies is higher, the most substantial flexions were recorded in Molise (-35.6%), Abruzzo (-35.2%) and Calabria (-34, 4%). The losses in Sicily (-32.9%) and Puglia (-28.6%) are more contained, which maintain a significant presence of youth entrepreneurship with almost 43 thousand and 34 thousand companies Under 35 respectively.