Italy is largely homogeneous linguistically and religiously but is diverse culturally, economically, and politically. Italy has the fifth-highest population density in Europe — about 196 persons per square kilometer (490 per square mile).
Population
Population: 56,305,568 (Jan 2002 census) - 27,260,953 males and 29,044,615 females, presence: 56,133,039
Families: 21,503,088 (55,920,840 Italians in a familiar status, 2.60 Italians per family)
- Most populated town (residents) Rome (RM) 2,459,776
- Less populated town (residents) Morterone (LC) 33
- Greatest human density (residents per km²) Portici (NA) 13,032.1
- Greatest town territory (km²) Rome (RM) 1,285.30
- Smallest town territory (km²) Fiera di Primiero (TN) 0.15
Metropolitan Areas
- Milan - around 6,500,000 to 7,000,000
- Naples - around 4,200,000
- Rome - around 3,800,000
- Turin - around 1,800,000
- Venetian Agglomeration - around 1,600,000 (Venezia, Padova, Mestre , Vicenza)
- Bari - around 1,500,000
- Florence - around 1,300,000
- Palermo - around 1,000,000
- Genoa - around 1,000,000
- Catania - around 800,000
- Bologna - around 600,000
Cities ranked by population
not representing metropolitan areas:
from the 2001-10-21 census:
Languages
The official and common language is Italian.
Officially recognized minority language groups are:
Source: Ministero degli Interni del Governo Italiano.
Official status:
- German is official in South Tyrol, where in 1991 there were 287,503 German and 116,914 Italian speaking people.
- Standard French is official only in the Valle d'Aosta, but the spoken dialects of this region and of some northern valleys of Piedmont are precisely French-Provencal, which reveals some differences from pure French).
- Sardinian is partly official in Sardinia.
- Ladin is official in parts of South Tyrol, the Dolomite mountains, between Trentino-Alto Adige and Veneto.
Religion
Although Roman Catholicism is the majority religion — 85% of native-born citizens are nominally Catholic — there are mature Protestant and Jewish communities and a growing Muslim (see: Islam in Italy) immigrant community. All religious faiths are provided equal freedom before the law by the constitution.
Other statistical indicators
From the CIA World Factbook 2004.
Population estimate:
58,057,477 (July 2004 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years:
14% (male 4,181,946; female 3,935,565)
15-64 years:
66.9% (male 19,590,497; female 19,256,747)
65 years and over:
19.1% (male 4,608,479; female 6,484,243)
(2004 est.)
Median age:
total: 41.4 years
male: 39.8 years
female: 43 years
(2004 est.)
Population growth rate:
0.09% (2004 est.)
Birth rate:
9.05 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)
Death rate:
10.21 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)
Net migration rate:
2.07 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth:
1.07 male(s)/female
under 15 years:
1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years:
1.02 male(s)/female
65 years and over:
0.71 male(s)/female
total population:
0.96 male(s)/female
(2004 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
total: 6.07 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 6.68 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 5.41 deaths/1,000 live births
(2004 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population:
79.54 years
male:
76.61 years
female:
82.66 years
(2004 est.)
Total fertility rate:
1.27 children born/woman (2004 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
0.4% (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
100,000 (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths:
less than 1,000 (2003 est.)
Nationality:
noun:
Italian(s)
adjective:
Italian
Ethnic groups:
Italian (includes small clusters of German-, French-, and Slovenian-Italians in the north and Albanian-Italians and Greek-Italians in the south)
Literacy:
definition:
age 15 and over can read and write
total population:
98.6%
male:
99%
female:
98.3%
(2003 est.)
See also
Last updated: 10-16-2005 17:01:14
