CALABRIA - Economy
Calabria's contribution to the gross value added of Italy was around 2.2% of the national total in 2001. Per capita GDP is well below the national average (61.5% of the national average), ranking last among the regions of Italy.
In 2001 the share of gross value added generated by agriculture was 5.8%, by the industrial sector 16.4%, and by the services sector 77.8%.
Plenty of olives but little farm
A typical feature of agriculture in Calabria is the high fragmentation of the farm structure. Holdings of less than two hectares made up 69% of the total in 2000.
The main cultivation in Calabria is olive tree, representing 29.6% of UAA and 70% of tree crops. In fact the majority of farms (137 938 units on a total of 194 600) produce olives.
Seed crops, particularly wheat (12.5%) and citrus fruit (5.7%) are the main cultivation in UAA in Calabria.
Within the industrial sector, manufacturing contributes to gross value added by 7.2%. In the manufacturing sector the main branches are foodstuff, beverage and tobacco with a contribution to the sector very close to the national average. The share of the building sector in the GVA (6.3%) is above the national average.
The most important economic sector in the region is the services sector, and in particular 'other activities', which contributes 28.8% to GVA. This percentage is the highest after Sicily, and is above the national average by 9.3%. The main activities in terms of GVA in the sector are education (9.9%) and public administration (8.6%).
Tourism, potential resource for development
In 2001 the sector of tourism (hotels, similar establishments, bars, restaurants and so on) contributed by 3.3% to the gross value added. This value is very close to the average Italian contribution (3.5%). In the last years the GVA of the tourism sector has been growing in importance, increasing by 40.6% between 1995 and 2001, while the regional gross value added grew by 14.3% in the same time period.
The regional tourist structure has in fact been developing. In 1995 the hotels were 647 with an equipment of 56 988 bed places, while in 2001 the hotels were 717 with 72 513 bed places. Similar establishments, in the meantime, have risen from 249 to 430 units.
Gioia Tauro leader in Mediterranean Sea
The region is served by three heavily used roads: two national highways along the coasts and the A3 motorway, which links Salerno and Reggio di Calabria along the old inland route.
The road density indicator (km of roadway x 100 km2 of land) was 66.9 in 2000, of which only 2.0 concerned motorways. The national average was 57.4 for road and 2.3 for motorways in the same year.
In 1997, the density indicator for railway (km of railway x 100 km2 of land) was 7.2; the electrified network in particular amounted to 2.7 (the corresponding average indicators for Italy were 6.5 and 3.9).
In Calabria there are two main airports: one is situated in Lametia Terme and the other in Reggio di Calabria, both very close to the cities.
The main calabrian ports are in Reggio di Calabria and in Gioia Tauro.
The Reggio di Calabria port is equipped with five loading docks of a length of 1 530 metres. The Gioia Tauro port has seven loading docks with an extension of 4 646 metres.
The region has acquired the leadership in the Mediterranean sea thanks to the port of Gioia Tauro, with a container traffic of 2.3 TEU millions in 1999.
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