In 2023, Italy's GDP per capita is 3710,000 US dollars, while Japan's GDP per capita fell back to 3$390,000.
Of course, in terms of economic aggregate, Japan is much higher than Italy, but Japan's population is 12.6 billion, Italy only has 59 million people, so on average, Italy has the advantage.
You must know that in 2021, Italy's per capita GDP is 4,000 US dollars lower than Japan's, in 2022, Italy's per capita GDP will surpass Japan's 700 US dollars, and in 2023, the gap between the two countries has reached 3,200 US dollars, and there is a trend of further expansion.
Rome. To be honest, it was a surprise to see that Italy's GDP per capita is higher than that of Japan.
After all, most of us have the impression that although we know that Italy and Japan are both developed countries, we still feel that Japan is higher than Italy.
When you think of Japan, you will think of it as an industrial power with a developed manufacturing industry, and Japan's various high-tech, industrial products, and cultural products sell well all over the world.
When it comes to Italy, it is more about the history of ancient Rome, pizza, pasta and other traditional foods, and many people do not associate Italy with industrial technology.
This also explains why Italy has a higher GDP per capita, but Japan always feels richer.
However, it is only in the last few decades that Japan has become richer than Italy, and for thousands of years, Italy must have been richer than Japan for most of the previous centuries.
It can only be said that in the past few decades, Japan has developed beyond the norm, while Italy has developed more slowly.
The impression that Italy is poorer than Japan dates back at least 50 years.
In fact, for most of the past half-century, Japan has led Italy in GDP per capita.
Looking back at the timeline of the past 50 years, it is only in the last few years that Italy has surpassed Japan.
In 2018, Italy's GDP per capita was 350,000 US dollars, compared to 40,000 US dollars in Japan for the same period, Japan is 5,000 US dollars more than Italy! At that time, the two were not of the same magnitude at all, but I didn't expect that in just five years, the situation would completely change.
Going back in 2010, the gap between Italy and Japan was even greater! That year, Italy's GDP per capita was 360,000, while Japan is as high as 450,000, a lead of nearly $10,000!
At the turn of the millennium, the average Italian was $20,000 per capita, and Japan was close to $40,000, almost twice as much as Italy! Who is poorer and who is richer? The answer is very obvious.
In short, in this century, except for 2022 and 2023, Japan's per capita GDP has always been stable compared to Italy.
And in the last century, the gap between the two sides was not very large.
In the seventies, Italy's GDP per capita was slightly higher than that of Japan.
By 1980, Japan ($9,500) had managed to overtake Italy ($8,400).
In the 90s, the gap between the two sides became wider and wider, and Japan's advantage over Italy was very obvious!
In 1990, Japan's GDP per capita reached 2$50,000 and $20,000 in Italy.
In 1995, Italy's GDP per capita was still in the early $20,000s, while Japan's GDP had skyrocketed to 4$40,000, establishing a double advantage over Italy!
Therefore, the impression that Italy is poorer than Japan was not formed in a short period of time, but lasted for the past half century!
Although Italy is a developed country, the gap between the rich and the poor in its own region is still quite large.
Italy can be geographically divided into northern Italy and southern Italy, and the dividing line between north and south is generally considered to be the Roman city in the center.
The major cities of Northern Italy, including Milan, Turin, Florence, etc., are the most economically important industrial cities in Italy.
The representative city of southern Italy is Naples, which has a poor image in Italy and Western Europe as a whole, and its economic strength is very average.
The gap between North and South Italy is as wide as that of two different countries. Northern Italy has developed industry and economic strength is not inferior to France and Germany, while southern Italy is obviously backward in terms of development level and can be regarded as the poorest region in Western Europe.
In order to catch up with the poor brothers in the south of the Yangtze River, Northern Italy even has to allocate financial support every year, which shows how backward the economy of Southern Italy is.
It is precisely because of the fact that southern Italy is dragging its feet that the outside world does not think that Italy is such a rich country.
Compared with Italy, the gap between the regions in Japan is much smaller, and the development between regions is more balanced, the gap between the rich and the poor is not large, and the overall situation is a little richer.
Although Italy's industry is not as well-known as Japan's, it is still an industrial powerhouse that cannot be ignored.
We all know that Italy is one of the world's leading design powers, and its design strength not only lies in the field of fashion and art, but also covers the field of industrial manufacturing.
As an old developed country in Europe, Italy also started by industry, and its industrial foundation will naturally not be bad.
When it comes to Italy's industrial level, in addition to the top supercars, there are also aerospace technology, precision instruments, high-end machine tools and so on.
In addition, Italy's military manufacturing strength is also very strong.
There are European Typhoon fighters flying in the sky. Although this high-performance fighter was jointly developed by several countries, Italy was one of the leading countries and was responsible for a very important research and development task.
The aircraft carrier Italy also has nautical miles. The Italian Navy currently has one combat aircraft carrier, the aircraft carrier "Cavour".
In addition to various "Italian guns" on the ground, there are also the famous "C1 Ram" tanks.