Italy faces business succession crisis as entrepreneur age rises

A report by the CNA highlights a growing crisis regarding generational turnover within the Italian business sector. As of June 2025, approximately 314,824 individual business owners in Italy are aged 70 or older, accounting for 10.7% of the total. This represents an increase from 8.9% in 2015, even as the overall number of individual business owners has declined.

The issue is compounded by a shrinking demographic of potential successors. Between 2015 and 2026, Italy's population aged 20 to 39 decreased by approximately 1.4 million people, nearly a 10% drop. Consequently, the number of youth-led businesses fell by over 153,000 units between 2014 and 2024.

In the province of Modena, the trend is also evident; 3,935 business owners are over 70, representing 12.1% of the local total. The CNA warns that this lack of succession threatens the loss of technical expertise, professional networks, and established client relationships. The aging trend is most pronounced in agriculture, where 28.3% of owners are over 70, followed by manufacturing, transport, and commerce.