The GAI 2024 Index compares 146 economies around the world, representing 94% of the world’s population and 98% of its GDP, in four macro areas of attractiveness (Openness, Innovation, Endowment, and Efficiency) and four additional indices (Dynamism, Sustainability, Growth Expectations, and Conflict Exposure, added in 2022). (Source: The European House – Ambrosetti and TEHA Group)

The USA, China, and Germany are confirmed at the top of the ranking; with four exceptions (China, Singapore, Hong Kong, and India), all the countries in the top 20 have increased their distance from the USA. In particular, all the countries slowing down are European countries, while the only ones keeping pace with the US are Asian countries. Italy, which only loses 0.5 points, fares better than many others within the European slowdown: this explains its rise from 18th to 17th place.

Among the factors attracting foreign investment to Italy are:
– improvements in the digital field;
– a high sustainability index (we are 103rd in the world for CO2 emissions and 96th for pollution-related deaths);
– a high level of safety, with one of the lowest homicide and suicide rates in the world, which means that the social fabric is holding up better than elsewhere, despite low wage growth and rising poverty;
– independence from Russian gas;
– Italy ranks fourth in the World in terms of exports: each euro of exports is sold to an average of 102 countries.

One discouraging factor is the lack of openness of our regulatory system to foreign investors: official acts published in the Official Gazette are only available in Italian, and the legislation in force portal Normattiva, which is managed by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, does not contain any acts translated into English.