Business Confidence in Italy increased to 87.80 points in July from 87.30 points in June of 2025. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - Italy Business Confidence - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

Economic Optimism Index in Italy increased to 98.90 points in June from 98.70 points in May of 2025. This dataset includes a chart with historical data for Italy Economic Sentiment Indicator.

This statistic shows the business confidence index for the industrial sector in Italy from 2008 to 2017, with projections up until 2022. In 2017, the confidence index for the Italian industry ranged at approximately **** index points, indicating an increase in business confidence.

Zew Economic Sentiment Index in Italy increased to 59.70 in March from 56.80 in February of 2021. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - Italy Zew Economic Sentiment Index - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

This statistic shows the business confidence index for the retail sector in Italy from 2008 to 2017, with projections up until 2022. In 2017, the confidence index for the Italian retail sector ranged at approximately ***** index points, indicating an increase in business confidence.

Abstract

The Future of Business Survey is a new source of information on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Launched in February 2016, the monthly survey - a partnership between Facebook, OECD, and The World Bank - provides a timely pulse on the economic environment in which businesses operate and who those businesses are to help inform decision-making at all levels and to deliver insights that can help businesses grow. The Future of Business Survey provides a perspective from newer and long-standing digitalized businesses and provides a unique window into a new mobilized economy.

Policymakers, researchers and businesses share a common interest in the environment in which SMEs operate, as well their outlook on the future, not least because young and innovative SMEs in particular are often an important source of considerable economic and employment growth. Better insights and timely information about SMEs improve our understanding of economic trends, and can provide new insights that can further stimulate and help these businesses grow.

To help provide these insights, Facebook, OECD and The World Bank have collaborated to develop a monthly survey that attempts to improve our understanding of SMEs in a timely and forward-looking manner. The three organizations share a desire to create new ways to hear from businesses and help them succeed in the emerging digitally-connected economy. The shared goal is to help policymakers, researchers, and businesses better understand business sentiment, and to leverage a digital platform to provide a unique source of information to complement existing indicators.

With more businesses leveraging online tools each day, the survey provides a lens into a new mobilized, digital economy and, in particular, insights on the actors: a relatively unmeasured community worthy of deeper consideration and considerable policy interest.

Geographic coverage

When the survey was initially launched in February 2016, it included 22 countries. When the survey was initially launched in February 2016, it included 22 countries. The Future of Business Survey is now conducted in over 90 countries in every region of the world.

Countries included in at least one wave: Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas (the) Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bolivia (Plurinational State of) Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cayman Islands (the) Central African Republic (the) Chad Chile Colombia Congo (the) Curaçao Cyprus Czechia Côte d'Ivoire Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic (the) Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Faroe Islands (the) Fiji Finland France French Polynesia Gabon Gambia (the) Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kenya Korea (the Republic of) Kuwait Lao People's Democratic Republic (the) Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malawi Malaysia Mali Malta Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Monaco Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nepal Netherlands (the) New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger (the) Nigeria North Macedonia Northern Mariana Islands (the) Norway Oman Pakistan Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines (the) Poland Portugal Qatar Romania Russian Federation (the) Rwanda Réunion Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten (Dutch part) Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands South Africa Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Tanzania, the United Republic of Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turks and Caicos Islands (the) Uganda United Arab Emirates (the) United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the) United States of America (the) Uruguay Vanuatu Viet Nam Virgin Islands (British) Virgin Islands (U.S.) Zambia.

Analysis unit

The study describes small and medium-sized enterprises.

Universe

The target population consists of SMEs that have an active Facebook business Page and include both newer and longer-standing businesses, spanning across a variety of sectors. With more businesses leveraging online tools each day, the survey provides a lens into a new mobilized, digital economy and, in particular, insights on the actors: a relatively unmeasured community worthy of deeper consideration and considerable policy interest.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Twice a year in over 97 countries, the Facebook Survey Team sends the Future of Business to admins and owners of Facebook-designated small business pages. When we share data from this survey, we anonymize responses to all survey questions and only share country-level data publicly. To achieve better representation of the broader small business population, we also weight our results based on known characteristics of the Facebook Page admin population.

A random sample of firms, representing the target population in each country, is selected to respond to the Future of Business Survey each month.

Mode of data collection

Internet [int]

Research instrument

The survey includes questions about perceptions of current and future economic activity, challenges, business characteristics and strategy. Custom modules include questions related to regulation, access to finance, digital payments, and digital skills. The full questionnaire is available for download.

Response rate

Response rates to online surveys vary widely depending on a number of factors including survey length, region, strength of the relationship with invitees, incentive mechanisms, invite copy, interest of respondents in the topic and survey design.

Note: Response rates are calculated as the number of respondents who completed the survey divided by the total number of SMEs invited.

Sampling error estimates

Any survey data is prone to several forms of error and biases that need to be considered to understand how closely the results reflect the intended population. In particular, the following components of the total survey error are noteworthy:

Sampling error is a natural characteristic of every survey based on samples and reflects the uncertainty in any survey result that is attributable to the fact that not the whole population is surveyed.

Other factors beyond sampling error that contribute to such potential differences are frame or coverage error (sampling frame of page owners does not include all relevant businesses but also may include individuals that don't represent businesses), and nonresponse error.

Note that the sample is meant to reflect the population of businesses on Facebook, not the population of small businesses in general. This group of digitized SMEs is itself a community worthy of deeper consideration and of considerable policy interest. However, care should be taken when extrapolating to the population of SMEs in general. Moreover, future work should evaluate the external validity of the sample. Particularly, respondents should be compared to the broader population of SMEs on Facebook, and the economy as a whole.

Germany Current Economic Situation Indicator: Italy data was reported at -86.200 % in Mar 2021. This records an increase from the previous number of -91.000 % for Feb 2021. Germany Current Economic Situation Indicator: Italy data is updated monthly, averaging -57.550 % from Dec 1991 (Median) to Mar 2021, with 352 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 27.800 % in Sep 2000 and a record low of -98.900 % in Apr 2020. Germany Current Economic Situation Indicator: Italy data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Germany – Table DE.S001: Indicator of Economic Sentiment: ZEW.

Market researchers investigate clients' target markets' behaviour, values and opinions, providing insights that allow them to tailor their products, services and marketing. Researchers rely on high European research and development expenditure to fuel demand for market research. Increased digitalisation has opened new doors for market research providers while intensifying competition. Artificial intelligence is increasingly important in analysing, identifying and generating research insights from social media posts using a flood of data. Meanwhile, digital surveys have allowed research companies to expand their outreach, save resources and costs and often attain more accurate and comprehensive insights for clients. Over the five years through 2024, industry revenue is expected to contract at a compound annual rate of 3.6% to €27.2 billion. The COVID-19 outbreak and ensuring low business sentiment took a toll on market research budgets. A sharp contraction in business sentiment squeezed corporate profit, discouraging companies from investing in research and development activities and negatively affecting professional research providers in 2022. A greater availability of data and alternative research methods means that researchers are competing more and more with in-house research departments. In 2024, industry revenue is expected to drop by 3.1% as consumers lower their private consumption expenditure, reducing consumer research activity. Over the five years through 2029, industry revenue is forecast to climb at a compound annual rate of 2.9% to reach €31.4 billion. Over the coming years, market research companies will face higher external competition from technology specialists leveraging insights internally, constraining revenue growth. Nonetheless, researchers will benefit from increasing online advertising activity. Those incorporating advanced data analytics systems and digital market research technology will remain competitive and benefit from greater digitalisation. Smart mobile surveys will also become an invaluable tool for consumer research companies.

This statistic shows the business confidence index for the service sector in Italy from 2008 to 2017, with projections up until 2022. In 2017, the confidence index for the Italian service industry ranged at approximately ***** index points, indicating an increase in business confidence.

Consumer Confidence in Italy increased to 97.20 points in July from 96.10 points in June of 2025. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - Italy Consumer Confidence - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

Germany Inflation Expectation: Italy data was reported at 76.900 % in Mar 2021. This records an increase from the previous number of 67.200 % for Feb 2021. Germany Inflation Expectation: Italy data is updated monthly, averaging 13.150 % from Dec 1991 (Median) to Mar 2021, with 352 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 77.800 % in Oct 1999 and a record low of -74.200 % in Nov 2008. Germany Inflation Expectation: Italy data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Germany – Table DE.S001: Indicator of Economic Sentiment: ZEW.

Germany Stock Market Expectation: Italy data was reported at 20.400 % in Mar 2021. This records an increase from the previous number of 17.300 % for Feb 2021. Germany Stock Market Expectation: Italy data is updated monthly, averaging 30.100 % from Dec 1991 (Median) to Mar 2021, with 352 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 73.200 % in Aug 2000 and a record low of -28.000 % in Aug 2019. Germany Stock Market Expectation: Italy data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Germany – Table DE.S001: Indicator of Economic Sentiment: ZEW.

Revenue in Europe’s Convention and Trade Show Organisations industry is anticipated to drop at a compound annual rate of 7.2% to €30.4 billion over the five years through 2024. The sink in revenue over the period is predominantly due to the significant damage the COVID-19 outbreak inflicted on the sector, as convention and trade show organisations were shut down temporarily or operated at limited capacity. The industry has weathered unfavourable economic headwinds since the COVID-19 outbreak, as inflationary pressures hit the Eurozone, limiting significant investment into new projects, compounded by lacklustre business sentiment. As a result, convention and trade show organisations' revenue is set to decline by 1.5% in 2024. The industry's key clientele is the commercial enterprises whose participation in events like trade shows and conventions mainly depends on their economic outlook. Private individuals are more likely to attend events during a positive consumer climate. This directly influences the appeal for companies to showcase themselves as exhibitors at trade shows. Inflationary pressures are set to ease over 2024, with promising signs in the latter end of 2023 strengthening business and consumer sentiment to the benefit of the industry. Revenue is projected to swell at a compound annual rate of 4.2% over the five years through 2029 to €37,1 billion. The industry is set to benefit from Europe’s improving economy in the coming years as markets stabilise and clients begin to expand investment, requiring the services of convention and trade show organisations. The industry’s growth will be squeezed by growth in telecommunications and digitalisation after consumers were forced onto online teleconferencing amid COVID-19 disruptions to travel. Continued growth in online substitutes to the industry will prove detrimental to the industry, with convention and trade show organisations adapting by implementing their own digitalisation efforts.