demographics of italy

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:

Name !! Population !! Region
a href="/encyclopedia/Rome" title="Rome">Rome	align=right\| 2 546 804	Lazio
a href="/encyclopedia/Milan" title="Milan">Milan	align=right\| 1 256 211	Lombardy
a href="/encyclopedia/Naples" title="Naples">Naples	align=right\| 1 004 500	Campania
a href="/encyclopedia/Turin" title="Turin">Turin	align=right\| 865 263	Piedmont
a href="/encyclopedia/Palermo" title="Palermo">Palermo	align=right\| 686 722	Sicilia
a href="/encyclopedia/Genoa" title="Genoa">Genoa	align=right\| 610 307	Liguria
a href="/encyclopedia/Bologna" title="Bologna">Bologna	align=right\| 371 217	Emilia-Romagna
a href="/encyclopedia/Florence" title="Florence">Florence	align=right\| 356 118	Tuscany
a href="/encyclopedia/Bari" title="Bari">Bari	align=right\| 316 532	Puglia
a href="/encyclopedia/Catania" title="Catania">Catania	align=right\| 313 110	Sicily
a href="/encyclopedia/Venice" title="Venice">Venice	align=right\| 271 073	Veneto
a href="/encyclopedia/Verona" title="Verona">Verona	align=right\| 253 208	Veneto
a href="/encyclopedia/Messina" title="Messina">Messina	align=right\| 252 026	Sicilia
a href="/encyclopedia/Trieste" title="Trieste">Trieste	align=right\| 211 184	Friuli-Venezia Giulia
a href="/encyclopedia/Padua" title="Padua">Padua	align=right\| 204 870	Veneto
a href="/encyclopedia/Taranto" title="Taranto">Taranto	align=right\| 202 033	Puglia
a href="/encyclopedia/Brescia" title="Brescia">Brescia	align=right\| 187 567	Lombardy
a href="/encyclopedia/Reggio-di-Calabria" title="Reggio di Calabria">Reggio di Calabria	align=right\| 180 353	Calabria
a href="/encyclopedia/Modena" title="Modena">Modena	align=right\| 175 502	Emilia-Romagna
a href="/encyclopedia/Prato" title="Prato">Prato	align=right\| 172 499	Tuscany
a href="/encyclopedia/Cagliari" title="Cagliari">Cagliari	align=right\| 164 249	Sardegna
a href="/encyclopedia/Parma" title="Parma">Parma	align=right\| 163 457	Emilia-Romagna
a href="/encyclopedia/Livorno" title="Livorno">Livorno	align=right\| 156 274	Toscana
a href="/encyclopedia/Foggia" title="Foggia">Foggia	align=right\| 155 203	Puglia
a href="/encyclopedia/Perugia" title="Perugia">Perugia	align=right\| 149 125	Umbria
a href="/encyclopedia/Reggio-nell'Emilia" title="Reggio nell'Emilia">Reggio nell'Emilia	align=right\| 141 877	Emilia-Romagna
a href="/encyclopedia/Salerno" title="Salerno">Salerno	align=right\| 138 188	Campania
a href="/encyclopedia/Ravenna" title="Ravenna">Ravenna	align=right\| 134 631	Emilia-Romagna
a href="/encyclopedia/Ferrara" title="Ferrara">Ferrara	align=right\| 130 992	Emilia-Romagna
a href="/encyclopedia/Rimini" title="Rimini">Rimini	align=right\| 128 656	Emilia-Romagna
a href="/encyclopedia/Syracuse" title="Syracuse">Syracuse	align=right\| 123 657	Sicily
a href="/encyclopedia/Sassari" title="Sassari">Sassari	align=right\| 120 729	Sardegna
a href="/encyclopedia/Monza" title="Monza">Monza	align=right\| 120 204	Lombardy
a href="/encyclopedia/Pescara" title="Pescara">Pescara	align=right\| 116 286	Abruzzo
a href="/encyclopedia/Bergamo" title="Bergamo">Bergamo	align=right\| 113 143	Lombardy
a href="/encyclopedia/Forl" title="Forl">Forl	align=right\| 108 335	Emilia-Romagna
a href="/encyclopedia/Latina" title="Latina">Latina	align=right\| 107 898	Lazio
a href="/encyclopedia/Vicenza" title="Vicenza">Vicenza	align=right\| 107 223	Veneto
a href="/encyclopedia/Terni" title="Terni">Terni	align=right\| 105 018	Umbria
a href="/encyclopedia/Trento" title="Trento">Trento	align=right\| 104 946	Trentino-Alto Adige
a href="/encyclopedia/Novara" title="Novara">Novara	align=right\| 100 910	Piedmont
a href="/encyclopedia/Ancona" title="Ancona">Ancona	align=right\| 100 507	Marche

Languages

The official and common language is Italian. Officially recognized minority language groups are:

Group	Population	Native language	Region
Sardinian	1 269 000	Sardinian	Sardinia
Friulian	526 000	Friulian	Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Tyrolean	290 000	German	Trentino-Alto Adige
Occitan	178 000	Occitan	Piedmont, Liguria, Calabria
Gipsy	130 000	Romany	the whole country
Albanian	98 000	Albanian	southern Italy, Sicily
Franco-Provenal	90 000	Franco-Provenal	Piedmont, Aosta Valley, Apulia
Slovenian	70 000	Slovenian	Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Ladin	55 000	Ladin	Trentino-Alto Adige, Veneto
French	20 000	French	Aosta Valley
Greek	20 000	Griko (Greek)	Calabria, Apulia
Catalan	18 000	Alguerese (Catalan)	Sardinia
Croatian	2 600	Croatian	Molise
Carinthian	2 000	German	Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Carnian	1 400	Friulian	Veneto

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.)