Italy’s digital transformation is uneven: its 5G coverage, cloud use among businesses, SME digital intensity and e-health access compare well with EU benchmarks, but basic digital skills, enterprise AI adoption and general digital public services lag. The European Commission’s 2024 Digital Decade indicators mostly describe 2023 conditions, so they are a baseline rather than a live measure of progress.
How to compare Italy with other European countries
No single ranking captures whether a country is “digital.” A useful comparison separates network access from how people, companies and public agencies use it. The European Commission’s 2024 Digital Decade country report and KPI table provide comparable indicators, mainly based on 2023 observations. Read those alongside the Commission’s 2025 executive summary, which reports later policy commitments and follow-up rather than completed outcomes.
For country comparisons, align the observation year and use the same indicator definitions. The six useful dimensions are fixed and mobile connectivity; SME digitisation and cloud, data and AI uptake; people’s digital skills and ICT-specialist supply; public services and e-health; startup and venture-capital capacity; and public funding, targets and implementation.
Italy’s digital transformation scorecard
The figures below are from the European Commission’s 2024 reporting, with 2023 observations unless otherwise noted. Percentage-point differences are calculated from the reported figures; connectivity measures with different definitions should not be treated as direct like-for-like comparisons.
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| Area | Italy | EU benchmark | What it indicates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5G coverage | 99.5% in the 2023 indicators | 89.3% in the 2023 indicators | Italy’s reported mobile coverage is substantially higher. |
| Fixed high-capacity networks | 59.6% FTTP/VHCN coverage in the 2023 indicators | 64.0% FTTP and 78.8% VHCN in the 2023 indicators | Italy trails the separately reported EU FTTP and VHCN benchmarks; the combined Italy label and separate EU values are not identical measures. |
| SMEs with at least basic digital intensity | 60.7% in 2023 | 57.7% in 2023 | Italy is 3.0 percentage points above the EU average. |
| Enterprise cloud use | 55.1% in 2023 | 38.9% in 2023 | Italy is 16.2 percentage points above the EU average. |
| Enterprise AI use | 5.0% in 2023 | 8.0% in 2023 | Italy is 3.0 percentage points below the EU average. |
| People with at least basic digital skills | 45.8% in the 2023 indicators | 55.6% in the 2023 indicators | Italy is 9.8 percentage points below the EU average. |
| Digital public services for citizens | 68.3/100 in the 2023 indicators | 79.4/100 in the 2023 indicators | Italy trails by 11.1 points. |
| Digital public services for businesses | 76.3/100 in the 2023 indicators | 85.4/100 in the 2023 indicators | Italy trails by 9.1 points. |
| E-health access | 82.7/100 in the 2023 indicators | 79.1/100 in the 2023 indicators | Italy is 3.6 points above the EU average. |
Where Italy is ahead—and where it is behind
Strong 5G does not mean complete fixed-network coverage
Italy’s 99.5% 5G coverage, compared with 89.3% across the EU in the Commission’s 2023 indicators, is a clear connectivity strength. The picture for high-capacity fixed networks is less favourable: the Commission reports 59.6% FTTP/VHCN coverage for Italy, against EU figures of 64.0% for FTTP and 78.8% for VHCN. Because the Italian figure combines labels while the EU figures distinguish them, the exact gap depends on the network measure; the broad signal is that fixed high-capacity coverage remains a weaker part of Italy’s profile than mobile coverage.
SMEs and cloud are comparatively strong; AI adoption is not
Italy is not uniformly behind in business digitisation. In 2023, 60.7% of Italian SMEs had at least basic digital intensity, above the EU’s 57.7%, and enterprise cloud use was 55.1% compared with 38.9% across the EU. Those measures do not imply that firms are using every advanced technology: only 5.0% of Italian enterprises used AI in 2023, compared with 8.0% in the EU. The Commission’s 2024 report identifies that limited AI uptake as a lagging area.
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Digital capability among people is a major constraint
The most pronounced people-side gap in the scorecard is basic digital skills. In the Commission’s 2023 indicators, 45.8% of people in Italy had at least basic digital skills, against 55.6% in the EU. High network coverage can make services reachable, but it cannot by itself ensure that people can use them effectively or that businesses can find workers with the capabilities needed to put digital tools to work.
Public services vary by sector
Italy’s 82.7/100 e-health access score exceeded the EU average of 79.1 in the 2023 indicators. Its broader digital public-service scores were lower: 68.3/100 for citizens and 76.3/100 for businesses, versus EU averages of 79.4 and 85.4. This contrast points to uneven delivery across public services, not a blanket failure or success. Progress in one sector does not establish that services elsewhere are equally accessible or well integrated.
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Startup scale-up remains a weak point
The Commission’s 2024 country report counted seven Italian unicorns in 2023, fewer than 3% of the EU total. That is a limited indicator, not a full measure of startup quality or future growth, but it reinforces the distinction between broad adoption of everyday digital tools and the ability to build and scale technology companies.
Why good connectivity can coexist with weak skills and AI use
Infrastructure, skills and adoption are separate stages of digital transformation. A mobile network can cover most of a country while fixed high-capacity networks remain less widely available. A business can use cloud services without adopting AI. And a public service can improve access in one area, such as e-health, while people still face skills barriers or other government services remain less developed.
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The OECD’s 2024 Economic Survey of Italy adds structural context: low tertiary-education enrolment and graduation rates constrain innovation and digitalisation. That matters because advanced adoption requires people who can select, integrate and use technology—not just a connection or software subscription. The OECD also notes that public-debt and ageing pressures compete with investment needs, which makes sustained investment in education, research links and administrative capability harder to deliver.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How much Italy is investing in the Digital Decade
Italy’s 2024 national roadmap estimated more than €32.5 billion in public measures, equivalent to about 1.6% of GDP and excluding private investment. The roadmap covered more than 60 measures. This is the estimated scale of policy inputs, not evidence that the spending has already produced the targeted coverage, skills or business outcomes.
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The European Commission’s 2025 executive summary reports 14 national targets, 79% alignment with EU 2030 targets, and that Italy addressed 69% of the 13 recommendations issued in 2024. These figures describe target-setting and reported follow-up. They should not be read as proof that 79% of outcomes have been achieved or that the recommendations have translated into measurable improvements.
What the comparison means for workers, SMEs and public services
- For workers and households: the skills gap is a practical barrier to benefiting from online services and digital work. Skills development is as important as extending network access.
- For SMEs: the above-EU figures for basic digital intensity and cloud use are encouraging, but the lower AI-adoption figure shows that basic adoption does not automatically progress to advanced tools. Firms’ ability to use those tools also depends on skills and implementation capacity.
- For public administration: the e-health score shows that stronger sector-specific performance is possible. The lower citizen and business service scores indicate that comparable service quality and effective integration across government remain important goals.
- For policymakers and investors: spending totals and target alignment are inputs and commitments. A meaningful assessment should track whether they are followed by changes in fixed-network access, skills, enterprise adoption and public-service performance.
Italy’s position is therefore mixed rather than simply “digital” or “behind.” Its strong 5G coverage, relatively high SME digital intensity and cloud use, and above-average e-health access sit alongside a clear basic-skills deficit, below-average AI uptake, weaker general public-service scores and a comparatively small unicorn count. The most informative future comparisons will keep years and definitions aligned and distinguish declared investment from measured results.
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