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

• Italy