The province of Modena stands out in the Italian industrial scene for its high entrepreneurial density: out of a population of over 650,000, there are over 65,000 industries, 1 for every 10 inhabitants. More than 10,000 of these belong to the agricultural sector, over 32,000 to the services sector and over 22,000 to the industrial sectors.

This characteristic is joined by yet another - the prevalence of small and medium-sized enterprises.
The model of industrial development generated by areas has produced a high average income per capita, estimated at around 22,700 € in 1999.

Modena boasts a fairly low unemployment figure (3.1% in 2003 compared to the national average of 8.7% and regional of 3.1%). Another influential factor is the number of working women: more than 130,000 out of 299,000 employees.
The leading industrial sectors are: mechanicals sector scattered all over the territory and represented by 4,800 firms, followed by the textiles clothing sector with over 3,300 business concerns, nearly half of which are located in the Carpi area. The food industry has over 1,400 firms and the ceramics sector, spread over the Sassuolo area, has over 200 tile manufacturing firms which employ more 16,000 workers. The biomedical sector in the Mirandola area is made up of seventy firms, which employ approximately 3,700 workers.

The high degree globalization of modenese industry comes out from the evolution of the provincial exports, with a growing trend since 1992. In 2003 modenese exports reached 7,718 million €. On the whole this ammount account for 3% of the national export figure, placing Modena in eighth position in the ranking of Italian provinces and second in its own region.
The most important economic sectors in terms of export figures are the engineering sector (including the vehicle industry) with 3.2 billion € in sales on foreign markets and the ceramics industry with over 1.9 billion €, followed by the textile clothing sector with over 787 million €.

As far as market outlets are concerned the European Union absorbs over 51% of Modenese exports; in this area Germany represents the most important market, followed by France and the United Kingdom. Outside Europe the United States represent the most popular destination for Modenese products.
Another economic indicator that deserves particular attention is the industrial production rate, which shows, continuous increase from the third quarter of 2003.