Demographics of Italy
Encyclopedia
This article is about the demographic
features of the population
of Italy
, including population density
, ethnicity
, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
has the fourth-largest population in the European Union
and the 23rd-largest population worldwide. The population density, at over 200 persons per square kilometer (over 500/sq mi), is the fifth highest in the European Union. The highest density is in Northern Italy
, as that one-third of the country contains almost half of the total population.
After World War II
, Italy enjoyed a prolonged economic boom which caused a major rural exodus to the cities, and at the same time transformed the nation from a massive emigration country till the 1970, to a net immigrant-receiving country from the mid 1980s. High fertility persisted until the 1970s, when it plunged below the replacement rates, so that as of 2008, one in five Italians was over 65 years old. Despite this, thanks mainly to the massive immigration of the last two decades, in the first decade of the 21st century, Italy experienced a growth in the crude birth rate (especially in the northern regions) for the first time in many years. The total fertility rate
has also significantly grown in the past few years, thanks to rising births among both in foreign-born and Italian women, as it climbed from an all-time minimum of 1.18 children per woman in 1995 to 1.41 in 2008.
(nearly 100,000 at the beginning of World War II), Somalia
and Libya
(150,000 Italians settled in Libya, constituting about 18% of the total population). All of Libya's Italians were expelled from the North African country in 1970.
In the decade after World War II, up to 350,000 ethnic Italians left Yugoslavia
(see Istrian exodus
). Large numbers of people with full or significant Italian ancestry are found in
Brazil
(25 million), Argentina
(20 million), United States
(17.8 million), France
(5 million), Uruguay
(1.5 million), Canada
(1.4 million), Venezuela
(900,000) and Australia
(800,000).
At the start of 2010 there were 4,279,000 foreign nationals resident in Italy and registered with the authorities. This amounted to 7.1% of the country’s population and represented a year-on-year increase of 388,000. These figures include more than half a million children born in Italy to foreign nationals—second generation immigrants are becoming an important element in the demographic picture—but exclude foreign nationals who have subsequently acquired Italian nationality; this applied to 53,696 people in 2008. They also exclude illegal immigrants, the so-called clandestini whose numbers are difficult to determine. In May 2008 The Boston Globe
quoted an estimate of 670,000 for this group.
Since the expansion of the European Union
, the most recent wave of migration has been from surrounding European nations, particularly Eastern Europe
, and increasingly Asia, replacing North Africa
as the major immigration area. Some 997,000 Romanians
, around 10 percent of them being Romanis, are officially registered as living in Italy, replacing Albanians and Moroccans as the largest ethnic minority group.
As of 2009, the foreign born population origin of Italy was subdivided as follows: Europe (53.5%), Africa (22.3%), Asia (15.8%), the Americas
(8.1%) and Oceania
(0.06%). The distribution of foreign born population is largely uneven in Italy: 87.3% of immigrants live in the northern and central parts of the country (the most economically developed areas), while only 12.8% live in the southern half of the peninsula.
According to Eurostat
, in 2010 there were 4.8 million foreign-born residents in Italy, corresponding to 8.0% of the total population. Of these, 3.2 million (5.3%) were born outside the EU and 1.6 million (2.6%) were born in another EU Member State.
Italy's official language is Italian
. Ethnologue
has estimated that there are about 55 million speakers of the language in Italy and a further 6.7 million outside of the country. However, between 120 and 150 million people use Italian as a second or cultural language, worldwide.
Italian, adopted by the state after the unification of Italy, is based on the Florentine variety of Tuscan and is somewhat intermediate between the Italo-Dalmatian languages
and the Gallo-Romance languages
. Its development was also influenced by the Germanic languages of the post-Roman invaders
.
Italy has numerous dialects spoken all over the country. However, the establishment of a national education system has led to decrease in variation in the languages spoken across the country. Standardisation was further expanded in the 1950s and 1960s thanks to economic growth and the rise of mass media
and television
(the state broadcaster RAI
helped set a standard Italian).
Several ethnic groups are legally recognized, and a number of minority languages have co-official status alongside Italian in various parts of the country. French is co-official in the Valle d’Aosta—although in fact Franco-Provencal is more commonly spoken there. German has the same status in the province of South Tyrol
as, in some parts of that province and in parts of the neighbouring Trentino, does Ladin. Slovene is officially recognised in the provinces of Trieste
, Gorizia
and Udine
in Venezia Giulia.
In these regions official documents are bilingual (trilingual in Ladin communities), or available upon request in either Italian or the co-official language. Traffic signs are also multilingual, except in the Valle d’Aosta where—with the exception of Aosta
itself which has retained its Latin form in Italian as in English—French toponyms are generally used, attempts to Italianise them during the Fascist period having been abandoned. Education is possible in minority languages where such schools are operating.
. Fully 87.8% of Italy's population identified themselves as Roman Catholic, although only about one-third of these described themselves as active members (36.8%).
Most Italians believe in God, or a form of a spiritual life force. According to the most recent Eurobarometer Poll
2005: 74% of Italian citizens responded that 'they believe there is a God', 16% answered that 'they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force' and 6% answered that 'they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, God, or life force'.
The Italian Catholic Church is part of the global Roman Catholic Church, under the leadership of the Pope
, curia
in Rome, and the Conference of Italian Bishops. In addition to Italy, two other sovereign nations are included in Italian-based dioceses, San Marino
and Vatican City
. There are 225 dioceses in the Italian Catholic Church, see further in this article and in the article List of the Roman Catholic dioceses in Italy. Even though by law Vatican City is not part of Italy, it is in Rome, and along with Latin
, Italian is the most spoken and second language of the Roman Curia
.
Italy has a rich Catholic culture, especially as numerous Catholic saint
s, martyr
s and popes were Italian themselves. Roman Catholic art in Italy especially flourished during the Middle-Ages, Renaissance
and Baroque
periods, with numerous Italian artists, such as Michelangelo
, Leonardo Da Vinci
, Raphael
, Caravaggio
, Fra Angelico
, Gian Lorenzo Bernini
, Sandro Botticelli
, Tintoretto
, Titian
, Raphael
and Giotto. Roman Catholic architecture in Italy is equally as rich and impressive, with churches, basilicas and cathedrals such as St Peter's Basilica, Florence Cathedral and St Mark's Basilica
. Roman Catholicism is the largest religion and denomination in Italy, with around 87.8% of Italians considering themselves Catholic. Italy is also home to the greatest number of cardinal
s in the world, and is the country with the greatest number of Roman Catholic churches per capita.
Even though the main Christian denomination in Italy is Roman Catholicism, there are some minorities of Protestant, Waldensian, Eastern Orthodox and other Christian churches.
In the 20th century, Jehovah's Witnesses
, Pentecostalism
, non-denominational Evangelicalism
, and Mormonism
were the fastest-growing Protestant churches. Immigration from Western, Central
, and Eastern Africa at the beginning of the 21st century has increased the size of Baptist
, Anglican
, Pentecostal and Evangelical communities in Italy, while immigration from Eastern Europe
has produced large Eastern Orthodox communities.
In 2006, Protestants made up 2.1% of Italy's population, and members of Eastern Orthodox churches comprised 1.2%. Other Christian
groups in Italy include more than 700,000 Eastern Orthodox Christians including 180,000 Greek Orthodox
, 550,000 Pentecostals and Evangelists (0.8%), of whom 400,000 are members of the Assemblies of God
, 235,685 Jehovah's Witnesses (0.4%), 30,000 Waldensians, 25,000 Seventh-day Adventists, 22,000 Mormons, 15,000 Baptists (plus some 5,000 Free Baptists), 7,000 Lutherans, 4,000 Methodists (affiliated with the Waldensian Church).
, Jews having been present in Ancient Rome
before the birth of Christ. Italy has seen many influential Italian-Jews, such as Luigi Luzzatti
, who took office in 1910, Ernesto Nathan
served as mayor of Rome from 1907 to 1913 and Shabbethai Donnolo
(died 982). During the Holocaust
, Italy took in many Jewish refugees from Nazi
Germany. However, with the creation of the Nazi-backed puppet Italian Social Republic
, about 15% of Italy's Jews were killed, despite the Fascist government's refusal to deport Jews to Nazi death camps. This, together with the emigration that preceded and followed the Second World War, has left only a small community of around 45,000 Jews in Italy today.
Due to immigration from around the world, there has been an increase in non-Christian faiths. In 2009, there were 1.0 million Muslims in Italy forming 1.6 percent of population although, only 50,000 hold Italian citizenship. Independent estimates put the Islamic population in Italy anywhere from 0.8 million to 1.5 million.
There are more than 200,000 followers of faith originating in the Indian subcontinent woth some 70,000 Sikhs with 22 gurdwaras across the country, 70,000 Hindus, and 50,000 Buddhists. There are an estimated some 4,900 Bahá'ís in Italy in 2005.
(2004 est.)
(2009 est.)
: 92.5%, other European
(mostly Albanian, Romanian, Ukrainian and others) 4%, North African (mostly Berber
) 1%, others 2.5%
: 1.8%, Atheist or Agnostic: 9%
(2003 est.)
Demographics
Demographics are the most recent statistical characteristics of a population. These types of data are used widely in sociology , public policy, and marketing. Commonly examined demographics include gender, race, age, disabilities, mobility, home ownership, employment status, and even location...
features of the population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, including population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
, ethnicity
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
Population
With a population estimated in 60.6 million, ItalyItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
has the fourth-largest population in the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
and the 23rd-largest population worldwide. The population density, at over 200 persons per square kilometer (over 500/sq mi), is the fifth highest in the European Union. The highest density is in Northern Italy
Northern Italy
Northern Italy is a wide cultural, historical and geographical definition, without any administrative usage, used to indicate the northern part of the Italian state, also referred as Settentrione or Alta Italia...
, as that one-third of the country contains almost half of the total population.
After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Italy enjoyed a prolonged economic boom which caused a major rural exodus to the cities, and at the same time transformed the nation from a massive emigration country till the 1970, to a net immigrant-receiving country from the mid 1980s. High fertility persisted until the 1970s, when it plunged below the replacement rates, so that as of 2008, one in five Italians was over 65 years old. Despite this, thanks mainly to the massive immigration of the last two decades, in the first decade of the 21st century, Italy experienced a growth in the crude birth rate (especially in the northern regions) for the first time in many years. The total fertility rate
Total Fertility Rate
The total fertility rate of a population is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if she were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates through her lifetime, and she...
has also significantly grown in the past few years, thanks to rising births among both in foreign-born and Italian women, as it climbed from an all-time minimum of 1.18 children per woman in 1995 to 1.41 in 2008.
Cities and conurbations
According to OECD, The largest conurbations are:- MilanMilanMilan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
– 7.4 million - RomeRomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
– 3.7 million - NaplesNaplesNaples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
– 3.1 million - TurinTurinTurin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
– 2.2 million
Summary of vital statistics since 1900
The following statistics are drawn from B.R. Mitchell, United nations, and ISTAT.| Average population (x 1000) | Live births | Deaths | Natural change | Crude birth rate (per 1000) | Crude death rate (per 1000) | Natural change (per 1000) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900 | 32 377 | 1 067 376 | 768 917 | 298 459 | 33.0 | 23.7 | 9.2 |
| 1901 | 32 550 | 1 057 763 | 715 036 | 342 727 | 32.5 | 22.0 | 10.5 |
| 1902 | 32 787 | 1 093 074 | 727 181 | 365 893 | 33.3 | 22.2 | 11.2 |
| 1903 | 33 004 | 1 042 090 | 736 311 | 305 779 | 31.6 | 22.3 | 9.3 |
| 1904 | 33 237 | 1 085 431 | 698 604 | 386 827 | 32.7 | 21.0 | 11.6 |
| 1905 | 33 489 | 1 084 518 | 730 340 | 354 178 | 32.4 | 21.8 | 10.6 |
| 1906 | 33 718 | 1 070 978 | 696 875 | 374 103 | 31.8 | 20.7 | 11.1 |
| 1907 | 33 952 | 1 062 333 | 700 333 | 362 000 | 31.3 | 20.6 | 10.7 |
| 1908 | 34 198 | 1 138 813 | 770 054 | 368 759 | 33.3 | 22.5 | 10.8 |
| 1909 | 34 455 | 1 115 831 | 738 460 | 377 371 | 32.4 | 21.4 | 11.0 |
| 1910 | 34 751 | 1 144 410 | 682 459 | 461 951 | 32.9 | 19.6 | 13.3 |
| 1911 | 35 033 | 1 093 545 | 742 811 | 350 734 | 31.2 | 21.2 | 10.0 |
| 1912 | 35 246 | 1 133 985 | 635 788 | 498 197 | 32.2 | 18.0 | 14.1 |
| 1913 | 35 351 | 1 122 482 | 663 966 | 458 516 | 31.8 | 18.8 | 13.0 |
| 1914 | 35 701 | 1 114 091 | 643 355 | 470 736 | 31.2 | 18.0 | 13.2 |
| 1915 | 36 271 | 1 109 183 | 809 703 | 299 480 | 30.6 | 22.3 | 8.3 |
| 1916 | 36 481 | 881 626 | 854 703 | 26 923 | 24.2 | 23.4 | 0.7 |
| 1917 | 36 343 | 713 732 | 948 710 | -234 978 | 19.6 | 26.1 | -6.5 |
| 1918 | 35 922 | 655 353 | 1 268 290 | -612 937 | 18.2 | 35.3 | -17.1 |
| 1919 | 35 717 | 770 620 | 676 329 | 94 291 | 21.6 | 18.9 | 2.6 |
| 1920 | 35 960 | 1 158 041 | 681 749 | 476 292 | 32.2 | 19.0 | 13.2 |
| 1921 | 37 869 | 1 163 344 | 670 234 | 493 110 | 30.7 | 17.7 | 13.0 |
| 1922 | 38 196 | 1 175 834 | 690 054 | 485 780 | 30.8 | 18.1 | 12.7 |
| 1923 | 38 571 | 1 155 157 | 654 827 | 500 330 | 29.9 | 17.0 | 13.0 |
| 1924 | 38 927 | 1 124 650 | 663 077 | 461 573 | 28.9 | 17.0 | 11.9 |
| 1925 | 39 265 | 1 108 565 | 669 695 | 438 870 | 28.2 | 17.1 | 11.2 |
| 1926 | 39 590 | 1 094 666 | 680 274 | 414 392 | 27.7 | 17.2 | 10.5 |
| 1927 | 39 926 | 1 093 772 | 639 843 | 453 929 | 27.4 | 16.0 | 11.4 |
| 1928 | 40 281 | 1 072 316 | 645 654 | 426 662 | 26.6 | 16.0 | 10.6 |
| 1929 | 40 607 | 1 037 700 | 667 223 | 370 477 | 25.6 | 16.4 | 9.1 |
| 1930 | 40 956 | 1 092 678 | 576 751 | 515 927 | 26.7 | 14.1 | 12.6 |
| 1931 | 41 339 | 1 026 197 | 609 405 | 416 792 | 24.8 | 14.7 | 10.1 |
| 1932 | 41 584 | 990 995 | 610 646 | 380 349 | 23.8 | 14.7 | 9.1 |
| 1933 | 41 928 | 995 979 | 574 113 | 421 866 | 23.8 | 13.7 | 10.1 |
| 1934 | 42 277 | 992 966 | 563 339 | 429 627 | 23.5 | 13.3 | 10.2 |
| 1935 | 42 631 | 996 708 | 594 722 | 401 986 | 23.4 | 14.0 | 9.4 |
| 1936 | 42 965 | 962 686 | 593 380 | 369 306 | 22.4 | 13.8 | 8.6 |
| 1937 | 43 269 | 991 867 | 618 290 | 373 577 | 22.9 | 14.3 | 8.6 |
| 1938 | 43 596 | 1 037 180 | 614 988 | 422 192 | 23.8 | 14.1 | 9.7 |
| 1939 | 44 018 | 1 040 213 | 591 483 | 448 730 | 23.6 | 13.4 | 10.2 |
| 1940 | 44 467 | 1 046 479 | 606 907 | 439 572 | 23.5 | 13.6 | 9.9 |
| 1941 | 44 830 | 937 546 | 621 735 | 315 811 | 20.9 | 13.9 | 7.0 |
| 1942 | 45 098 | 926 063 | 643 607 | 282 456 | 20.5 | 14.3 | 6.3 |
| 1943 | 44 641 | 885 300 | 679 708 | 205 592 | 19.8 | 15.2 | 4.6 |
| 1944 | 44 794 | 817 704 | 685 171 | 132 533 | 18.3 | 15.3 | 3.0 |
| 1945 | 44 946 | 817 812 | 615 092 | 202 720 | 18.2 | 13.7 | 4.5 |
| 1946 | 45 253 | 1 039 432 | 547 952 | 491 480 | 23.0 | 12.1 | 10.9 |
| 1947 | 45 641 | 1 014 712 | 524 019 | 490 693 | 22.2 | 11.5 | 10.8 |
| 1948 | 46 381 | 1 009 299 | 490 450 | 518 849 | 21.8 | 10.6 | 11.2 |
| 1949 | 46 733 | 940 293 | 485 277 | 455 016 | 20.1 | 10.4 | 9.7 |
| 1950 | 47 104 | 911 805 | 455 169 | 456 636 | 19.4 | 9.7 | 9.7 |
| 1951 | 47 417 | 863 849 | 485 208 | 378 641 | 18.2 | 10.2 | 8.0 |
| 1952 | 47 666 | 847 354 | 477 894 | 369 460 | 17.8 | 10.0 | 7.8 |
| 1953 | 47 957 | 842 274 | 476 015 | 366 259 | 17.6 | 9.9 | 7.6 |
| 1954 | 48 299 | 870 689 | 441 897 | 428 792 | 18.0 | 9.1 | 8.9 |
| 1955 | 48 633 | 869 333 | 446 689 | 422 644 | 17.9 | 9.2 | 8.7 |
| 1956 | 48 920 | 873 608 | 497 550 | 376 058 | 17.9 | 10.2 | 7.7 |
| 1957 | 49 181 | 878 906 | 484 190 | 394 716 | 17.9 | 9.8 | 8.0 |
| 1958 | 49 475 | 870 468 | 457 690 | 412 778 | 17.6 | 9.3 | 8.3 |
| 1959 | 49 831 | 901 017 | 454 740 | 446 277 | 18.1 | 9.1 | 9.0 |
| 1960 | 50 198 | 910 192 | 480 932 | 429 260 | 18.1 | 9.6 | 8.6 |
| 1961 | 50 523 | 929 657 | 468 455 | 461 202 | 18.4 | 9.3 | 9.1 |
| 1962 | 50 843 | 937 257 | 509 174 | 428 083 | 18.4 | 10.0 | 8.4 |
| 1963 | 51 198 | 960 336 | 516 377 | 443 959 | 18.8 | 10.1 | 8.7 |
| 1964 | 51 600 | 1 016 120 | 490 050 | 526 070 | 19.7 | 9.5 | 10.2 |
| 1965 | 51 987 | 990 458 | 518 008 | 472 450 | 19.1 | 10.0 | 9.1 |
| 1966 | 52 332 | 979 940 | 496 281 | 483 659 | 18.7 | 9.5 | 9.2 |
| 1967 | 52 667 | 948 772 | 510 122 | 438 650 | 18.0 | 9.7 | 8.3 |
| 1968 | 52 987 | 930 172 | 532 571 | 397 601 | 17.6 | 10.1 | 7.5 |
| 1969 | 53 317 | 932 466 | 539 129 | 393 337 | 17.5 | 10.1 | 7.4 |
| 1970 | 53 661 | 901 472 | 521 096 | 380 376 | 16.8 | 9.7 | 7.1 |
| 1971 | 54 074 | 906 182 | 522 654 | 383 528 | 16.8 | 9.7 | 7.1 |
| 1972 | 54 381 | 888 203 | 523 828 | 364 375 | 16.3 | 9.6 | 6.7 |
| 1973 | 54 751 | 874 546 | 547 487 | 327 059 | 16.0 | 10.0 | 6.0 |
| 1974 | 55 111 | 868 882 | 532 052 | 336 830 | 15.8 | 9.7 | 6.1 |
| 1975 | 55 441 | 827 852 | 554 346 | 273 506 | 14.9 | 10.0 | 4.9 |
| 1976 | 55 718 | 781 638 | 550 565 | 231 073 | 14.0 | 9.9 | 4.1 |
| 1977 | 55 955 | 741 103 | 546 694 | 194 409 | 13.2 | 9.8 | 3.5 |
| 1978 | 56 155 | 709 043 | 540 671 | 168 372 | 12.6 | 9.6 | 3.0 |
| 1979 | 56 318 | 670 221 | 538 352 | 131 869 | 11.9 | 9.6 | 2.3 |
| 1980 | 56 434 | 640 401 | 554 510 | 85 891 | 11.3 | 9.8 | 1.5 |
| 1981 | 56 502 | 623 103 | 545 291 | 77 812 | 11.0 | 9.7 | 1.4 |
| 1982 | 56 544 | 617 507 | 522 332 | 95 175 | 10.9 | 9.2 | 1.7 |
| 1983 | 56 564 | 600 218 | 553 568 | 46 650 | 10.6 | 9.8 | 0.8 |
| 1984 | 56 577 | 587 871 | 534 676 | 53 195 | 10.4 | 9.5 | 0.9 |
| 1985 | 56 593 | 577 345 | 547 436 | 29 909 | 10.2 | 9.7 | 0.5 |
| 1986 | 56 596 | 554 845 | 537 453 | 17 392 | 9.8 | 9.5 | 0.3 |
| 1987 | 56 602 | 552 329 | 524 999 | 27 330 | 9.8 | 9.3 | 0.5 |
| 1988 | 56 629 | 569 698 | 539 426 | 30 272 | 10.1 | 9.5 | 0.5 |
| 1989 | 56 672 | 560 688 | 525 960 | 34 728 | 9.8 | 9.3 | 0.5 |
| 1990 | 56 719 | 563 019 | 543 708 | 19 311 | 9.9 | 9.5 | 0.5 |
| 1991 | 56 751 | 562 787 | 553 833 | 8 954 | 9.9 | 9.8 | 0.2 |
| 1992 | 56 797 | 575 216 | 545 038 | 30 178 | 10.1 | 9.6 | 0.5 |
| 1993 | 56 832 | 552 587 | 555 043 | -2 456 | 9.7 | 9.8 | -0.0 |
| 1994 | 56 843 | 536 665 | 557 513 | -20 848 | 9.4 | 9.8 | -0.4 |
| 1995 | 56 844 | 526 064 | 555 203 | -29 139 | 9.3 | 9.8 | -0.5 |
| 1996 | 56 860 | 536 740 | 557 756 | -21 016 | 9.4 | 9.8 | -0.4 |
| 1997 | 56 890 | 540 048 | 564 679 | -24 631 | 9.5 | 9.9 | -0.4 |
| 1998 | 56 907 | 532 843 | 576 911 | -44 068 | 9.4 | 10.1 | -0.8 |
| 1999 | 56 917 | 537 242 | 571 356 | -34 114 | 9.4 | 10.0 | -0.6 |
| 2000 | 56 942 | 543 039 | 560 241 | -17 202 | 9.5 | 9.8 | -0.3 |
| 2001 | 56 977 | 535 264 | 548 227 | -12 963 | 9.4 | 9.6 | -0.2 |
| 2002 | 57 158 | 538 198 | 557 393 | -19 195 | 9.4 | 9.8 | -0.3 |
| 2003 | 57 605 | 544 063 | 588 897 | -44 834 | 9.4 | 10.2 | -0.8 |
| 2004 | 58 175 | 562 599 | 545 050 | 17 549 | 9.7 | 9.4 | 0.3 |
| 2005 | 58 607 | 554 022 | 568 328 | -14 306 | 9.5 | 9.7 | -0.2 |
| 2006 | 58 942 | 560 010 | 560 875 | - 865 | 9.5 | 9.5 | -0.0 |
| 2007 | 59 375 | 563 933 | 573 026 | -9 093 | 9.5 | 9.7 | -0.2 |
| 2008 | 59 832 | 576 659 | 585 126 | -8 467 | 9.6 | 9.8 | -0.1 |
| 2009 | 60 193 | 568 857 | 591 663 | -22 806 | 9.5 | 9.8 | -0.4 |
| 2010 | 60 626 | 561 944 | 587 488 | -25 544 | - | - | - |
Migration
Italy became a country of mass emigration soon after national reunification in the late 19th century. Between 1898 and 1914, the peak years of Italian diaspora, approximately 750,000 Italians emigrated each year. Italian communities once thrived in the former African colonies of EritreaEritrea
Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...
(nearly 100,000 at the beginning of World War II), Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
and Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
(150,000 Italians settled in Libya, constituting about 18% of the total population). All of Libya's Italians were expelled from the North African country in 1970.
In the decade after World War II, up to 350,000 ethnic Italians left Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
(see Istrian exodus
Istrian exodus
The expression Istrian exodus or Istrian-Dalmatian exodus is used to indicate the departure of ethnic Italians from Istria, Rijeka, and Dalmatia , after World War II. At the time of the exodus, these territories were part of the SR Croatia and SR Slovenia , today they are parts of the Republics of...
). Large numbers of people with full or significant Italian ancestry are found in
Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
(25 million), Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
(20 million), United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(17.8 million), France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
(5 million), Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
(1.5 million), Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
(1.4 million), Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
(900,000) and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
(800,000).
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
quoted an estimate of 670,000 for this group.
Since the expansion of the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, the most recent wave of migration has been from surrounding European nations, particularly Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
, and increasingly Asia, replacing North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
as the major immigration area. Some 997,000 Romanians
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
, around 10 percent of them being Romanis, are officially registered as living in Italy, replacing Albanians and Moroccans as the largest ethnic minority group.
As of 2009, the foreign born population origin of Italy was subdivided as follows: Europe (53.5%), Africa (22.3%), Asia (15.8%), the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
(8.1%) and Oceania
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
(0.06%). The distribution of foreign born population is largely uneven in Italy: 87.3% of immigrants live in the northern and central parts of the country (the most economically developed areas), while only 12.8% live in the southern half of the peninsula.
According to Eurostat
Eurostat
Eurostat is a Directorate-General of the European Commission located in Luxembourg. Its main responsibilities are to provide the European Union with statistical information at European level and to promote the integration of statistical methods across the Member States of the European Union,...
, in 2010 there were 4.8 million foreign-born residents in Italy, corresponding to 8.0% of the total population. Of these, 3.2 million (5.3%) were born outside the EU and 1.6 million (2.6%) were born in another EU Member State.
| Nationality | Population | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| Italian Italian people The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people... |
92.90% | |
| Romanian Romanians The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania.... |
1.98% | |
| North Africa North Africa North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and... n |
1.32% | |
| Albanian Albanians Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo... |
0.83% | |
| Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara... |
0.36% | |
| Ukrainian Ukrainians Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens... |
0.30% | |
| Asian Asian people Asian people or Asiatic people is a term with multiple meanings that refers to people who descend from a portion of Asia's population.- Central Asia :... (non-Chinese, Including Indians and Pakistanis) |
0.82% | |
| Chinese Han Chinese Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the... n |
0.35% | |
| Latin Americann | 0.33% | |
| Other (Mainly from other European nations and the Middle East) | 1.17% |
Languages
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
. Ethnologue
Ethnologue
Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International , a Christian linguistic service organization, which studies lesser-known languages, to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language and support their efforts in language development.The Ethnologue...
has estimated that there are about 55 million speakers of the language in Italy and a further 6.7 million outside of the country. However, between 120 and 150 million people use Italian as a second or cultural language, worldwide.
Italian, adopted by the state after the unification of Italy, is based on the Florentine variety of Tuscan and is somewhat intermediate between the Italo-Dalmatian languages
Italo-Dalmatian languages
The Italo-Dalmatian languages are a group of Romance languages of Italy , Corsica, and, formerly, the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia...
and the Gallo-Romance languages
Gallo-Romance languages
The Gallo-Romance branch of Romance languages include French and the other langue d'oïl dialects, Occitan , Catalan, Franco-Provençal, Gallo-Italic, and other languages - Other possible classifications :...
. Its development was also influenced by the Germanic languages of the post-Roman invaders
Migration Period
The Migration Period, also called the Barbarian Invasions , was a period of intensified human migration in Europe that occurred from c. 400 to 800 CE. This period marked the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages...
.
Italy has numerous dialects spoken all over the country. However, the establishment of a national education system has led to decrease in variation in the languages spoken across the country. Standardisation was further expanded in the 1950s and 1960s thanks to economic growth and the rise of mass media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
(the state broadcaster RAI
RAI
RAI — Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Ministry of Economic Development. Rai is the biggest television company in Italy...
helped set a standard Italian).
Several ethnic groups are legally recognized, and a number of minority languages have co-official status alongside Italian in various parts of the country. French is co-official in the Valle d’Aosta—although in fact Franco-Provencal is more commonly spoken there. German has the same status in the province of South Tyrol
South Tyrol
South Tyrol , also known by its Italian name Alto Adige, is an autonomous province in northern Italy. It is one of the two autonomous provinces that make up the autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. The province has an area of and a total population of more than 500,000 inhabitants...
as, in some parts of that province and in parts of the neighbouring Trentino, does Ladin. Slovene is officially recognised in the provinces of Trieste
Province of Trieste
The Province of Trieste is a province in the autonomous Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Trieste.It has an area of 212 km², and a total population of 236,520...
, Gorizia
Province of Gorizia
The Province of Gorizia is a province in the autonomous Friuli–Venezia Giulia region of Italy.-Overview:Its capital is the city of Gorizia. It belonged to the Province of Udine between 1924 and 1927 and the communes of Sonzia, Plezzo, Bergogna, Caporetto, Tolmino, Circhina, Santa Lucia d'Isonzo,...
and Udine
Province of Udine
The Province of Udine is a province in the autonomous Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy, bordering Austria and Slovenia. Its capital is the city of Udine....
in Venezia Giulia.
In these regions official documents are bilingual (trilingual in Ladin communities), or available upon request in either Italian or the co-official language. Traffic signs are also multilingual, except in the Valle d’Aosta where—with the exception of Aosta
Aosta
Aosta is the principal city of the bilingual Aosta Valley in the Italian Alps, north-northwest of Turin. It is situated near the Italian entrance of the Mont Blanc Tunnel, at the confluence of the Buthier and the Dora Baltea, and at the junction of the Great and Little St. Bernard routes...
itself which has retained its Latin form in Italian as in English—French toponyms are generally used, attempts to Italianise them during the Fascist period having been abandoned. Education is possible in minority languages where such schools are operating.
Religion
Roman Catholicism is by far the largest religion in the country, although the Catholic Church is no longer officially the state religionState religion
A state religion is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state...
. Fully 87.8% of Italy's population identified themselves as Roman Catholic, although only about one-third of these described themselves as active members (36.8%).
Most Italians believe in God, or a form of a spiritual life force. According to the most recent Eurobarometer Poll
Eurobarometer
Eurobarometer is a series of surveys regularly performed on behalf of the European Commission since 1973. It produces reports of public opinion of certain issues relating to the European Union across the member states...
2005: 74% of Italian citizens responded that 'they believe there is a God', 16% answered that 'they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force' and 6% answered that 'they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, God, or life force'.
Christianity
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
, curia
Curia
A curia in early Roman times was a subdivision of the people, i.e. more or less a tribe, and with a metonymy it came to mean also the meeting place where the tribe discussed its affairs...
in Rome, and the Conference of Italian Bishops. In addition to Italy, two other sovereign nations are included in Italian-based dioceses, San Marino
San Marino
San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino , is a state situated on the Italian Peninsula on the eastern side of the Apennine Mountains. It is an enclave surrounded by Italy. Its size is just over with an estimated population of over 30,000. Its capital is the City of San Marino...
and Vatican City
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
. There are 225 dioceses in the Italian Catholic Church, see further in this article and in the article List of the Roman Catholic dioceses in Italy. Even though by law Vatican City is not part of Italy, it is in Rome, and along with Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, Italian is the most spoken and second language of the Roman Curia
Roman Curia
The Roman Curia is the administrative apparatus of the Holy See and the central governing body of the entire Catholic Church, together with the Pope...
.
Italy has a rich Catholic culture, especially as numerous Catholic saint
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
s, martyr
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
s and popes were Italian themselves. Roman Catholic art in Italy especially flourished during the Middle-Ages, Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
and Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
periods, with numerous Italian artists, such as Michelangelo
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...
, Leonardo Da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
, Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
, Caravaggio
Caravaggio
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was an Italian artist active in Rome, Naples, Malta, and Sicily between 1593 and 1610. His paintings, which combine a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, had a formative influence on the Baroque...
, Fra Angelico
Fra Angelico
Fra Angelico , born Guido di Pietro, was an Early Italian Renaissance painter described by Vasari in his Lives of the Artists as having "a rare and perfect talent"...
, Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Gian Lorenzo Bernini was an Italian artist who worked principally in Rome. He was the leading sculptor of his age and also a prominent architect...
, Sandro Botticelli
Sandro Botticelli
Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, better known as Sandro Botticelli was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance...
, Tintoretto
Tintoretto
Tintoretto , real name Jacopo Comin, was a Venetian painter and a notable exponent of the Renaissance school. For his phenomenal energy in painting he was termed Il Furioso...
, Titian
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...
, Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
and Giotto. Roman Catholic architecture in Italy is equally as rich and impressive, with churches, basilicas and cathedrals such as St Peter's Basilica, Florence Cathedral and St Mark's Basilica
St Mark's Basilica
The Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice, northern Italy. It is the most famous of the city's churches and one of the best known examples of Byzantine architecture...
. Roman Catholicism is the largest religion and denomination in Italy, with around 87.8% of Italians considering themselves Catholic. Italy is also home to the greatest number of cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
s in the world, and is the country with the greatest number of Roman Catholic churches per capita.
Even though the main Christian denomination in Italy is Roman Catholicism, there are some minorities of Protestant, Waldensian, Eastern Orthodox and other Christian churches.
In the 20th century, Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...
, Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
, non-denominational Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
, and Mormonism
Mormonism
Mormonism is the religion practiced by Mormons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. This movement was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. beginning in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism. During the 1830s and 1840s, Mormonism gradually distinguished itself...
were the fastest-growing Protestant churches. Immigration from Western, Central
Central Africa
Central Africa is a core region of the African continent which includes Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda....
, and Eastern Africa at the beginning of the 21st century has increased the size of Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
, Anglican
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
, Pentecostal and Evangelical communities in Italy, while immigration from Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
has produced large Eastern Orthodox communities.
In 2006, Protestants made up 2.1% of Italy's population, and members of Eastern Orthodox churches comprised 1.2%. Other Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
groups in Italy include more than 700,000 Eastern Orthodox Christians including 180,000 Greek Orthodox
Greek Orthodox Church
The Greek Orthodox Church is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity sharing a common cultural tradition whose liturgy is also traditionally conducted in Koine Greek, the original language of the New Testament...
, 550,000 Pentecostals and Evangelists (0.8%), of whom 400,000 are members of the Assemblies of God
Assemblies of God
The Assemblies of God , officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 140 autonomous but loosely-associated national groupings of churches which together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination...
, 235,685 Jehovah's Witnesses (0.4%), 30,000 Waldensians, 25,000 Seventh-day Adventists, 22,000 Mormons, 15,000 Baptists (plus some 5,000 Free Baptists), 7,000 Lutherans, 4,000 Methodists (affiliated with the Waldensian Church).
Other religions
The longest-established religious faith in Italy is JudaismJudaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, Jews having been present in Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
before the birth of Christ. Italy has seen many influential Italian-Jews, such as Luigi Luzzatti
Luigi Luzzatti
Luigi Luzzatti was an Italian political figure and served as the 31st Prime Minister of Italy between 1910 and 1911...
, who took office in 1910, Ernesto Nathan
Ernesto Nathan
Ernesto Nathan was an English-Italian Jewish politician, and mayor of Rome, Italy from November 1907 to December 1913.-Biography:...
served as mayor of Rome from 1907 to 1913 and Shabbethai Donnolo
Shabbethai Donnolo
Shabbethai Donnolo was an Italian physician, and writer on medicine and astrology born at Oria. When twelve years of age he was made prisoner by the Arabs under the leadership of the Fatimite Abu Ahmad Ja'far ibn 'Ubaid, but was ransomed by his relatives at Otranto, while the rest of his family...
(died 982). During the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
, Italy took in many Jewish refugees from Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
Germany. However, with the creation of the Nazi-backed puppet Italian Social Republic
Italian Social Republic
The Italian Social Republic was a puppet state of Nazi Germany led by the "Duce of the Nation" and "Minister of Foreign Affairs" Benito Mussolini and his Republican Fascist Party. The RSI exercised nominal sovereignty in northern Italy but was largely dependent on the Wehrmacht to maintain control...
, about 15% of Italy's Jews were killed, despite the Fascist government's refusal to deport Jews to Nazi death camps. This, together with the emigration that preceded and followed the Second World War, has left only a small community of around 45,000 Jews in Italy today.
Due to immigration from around the world, there has been an increase in non-Christian faiths. In 2009, there were 1.0 million Muslims in Italy forming 1.6 percent of population although, only 50,000 hold Italian citizenship. Independent estimates put the Islamic population in Italy anywhere from 0.8 million to 1.5 million.
There are more than 200,000 followers of faith originating in the Indian subcontinent woth some 70,000 Sikhs with 22 gurdwaras across the country, 70,000 Hindus, and 50,000 Buddhists. There are an estimated some 4,900 Bahá'ís in Italy in 2005.
Demographic statistics from the CIA World Factbook
The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.Population estimate
- 60,418,711 (Istat, April 2010 est.)http://www.istat.it/salastampa/comunicati/non_calendario/20100915_00/testointegrale20100915.pdf
Age structure
- 0-14 years: 13.5% (male 4,056,156/female 3,814,070)
- 15-64 years: 66.3% (male 19,530,696/female 18,981,084)
- 65 years and over: 20.2% (male 4,903,762/female 6,840,444) (2010 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: 0.72 male(s)/female
- total population: 0.96 male(s)/female
(2004 est.)
Infant mortality rate
- total: 5.51 deaths/1,000 live births
- male: 6.07 deaths/1,000 live births
- female: 4.91 deaths/1,000 live births
(2009 est.)
Total fertility rate
- 1.41 children born/woman (Istat 2009 est.)http://demo.istat.it/altridati/indicatori/2009/Tab_4.pdf
HIV/AIDS
- Adult prevalence rate: 0.4% (2009 est.)
- People living with HIV/AIDS: 150,000 (2007 est.)
- Deaths: 1,900 (2007 est.)
Ethnic groups
ItalianItalian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
: 92.5%, other European
European ethnic groups
The ethnic groups in Europe are the various ethnic groups that reside in the nations of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe....
(mostly Albanian, Romanian, Ukrainian and others) 4%, North African (mostly Berber
Berber people
Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...
) 1%, others 2.5%
Religions
Roman Catholic: 87% (approximately; one third practicing), other Christians: 2%, MuslimMuslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
: 1.8%, Atheist or Agnostic: 9%
Literacy
- definition: age 15 and over can read and write
- total population: 98.6%
- male:
(2003 est.)
Genetics
In a very recent and thorough study (2007) which analysed 699 Italian individuals from 12 different regions in continental Italy, the most common Y-dna haplogroups observed were :- R1Haplogroup R1 (Y-DNA)In human genetics, Haplogroup R1 is a Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup, a subgroup of haplogroup R, associated with the M173 mutation. It is dominated in practice by two very common Eurasian clades, R1a and R1b, which together are found all over Eurasia except in Southeast Asia and East Asia...
(42.8% : 40% R1b and 2.8% R1a) - JHaplogroup J (Y-DNA)In human genetics, Haplogroup J is a Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup. It is one of the major male lines of all living men...
(22 % : 20% J2 and 2% J1) - E1b1b (12.6 %)
- GHaplogroup G (Y-DNA)In human genetics, Haplogroup G is a Y-chromosome haplogroup. It is a branch of Haplogroup F . Haplogroup G has an overall low frequency in most populations but is widely distributed within many ethnic groups of the Old World in Europe, northern and western Asia, northern Africa, the Middle East,...
(10.8 %) - IHaplogroup I (Y-DNA)In human genetics, Haplogroup I is a Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup, a subgroup of haplogroup IJ, itself a derivative of Haplogroup IJK....
(7.5 %) - KHaplogroup K (Y-DNA)In human genetics, Haplogroup K is a Human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup. This haplogroup is a descendant of Haplogroup IJK. Its major descendant haplogroups are Haplogroup LT and Haplogroup K...
(3.7%)
External links
- Demographic page
- Demographic Profile Italy Allianz Knowledge