The Social Growth Index: Measuring Resilience at Scale

Social Growth Index (SGI) aims to provide a measure of resilience and a ranking of the analyzed administrative units. The administrative units considered in this work are the Italian provinces with administrative boundaries as of January 1, 2023. The selected variables for measuring resilience include the growth rate of GDP at constant 2015 prices, the growth rate of per capita GDP at constant 2015 prices, and the population growth rate over the period 2012–2022. Spatial correlation of the individual variables was investigated using LISA Maps, and provincial level resilience was assessed through the Copeland method applied to these three dimensions. The Copeland Score for each province represents the resilience value and provides a ranking of the administrative units from the most resilient to the most fragile. Finally, the results are compared with the Indice di Fragilità Comunale (IFC) developed by ISTAT, which is calculated for Italian municipalities.