Demographics of Italy

The demography of Italy is monitored by the Italian National Institute of Statistics.
At the beginning of 2024, Italy had an estimated population of 58.9 million. Its population density, at, is higher than both the EU and European average. However, the distribution of the population is very uneven: the most densely populated areas are the Po Valley in northern Italy and the metropolitan areas of Rome and Naples in central and southern Italy; landlocked, rural and mountainous areas are very sparsely populated, notably the Alps and Apennines ranges, the plateaus of Basilicata and Puglia, the inland highlands of Sicily and the Mediterranean island of Sardinia.
The population of the country almost doubled during the 20th century, but the pattern of growth was extremely uneven due to large-scale internal migration from the impoverished, largely rural South to the industrial cities of the North, especially during the Italian economic miracle of the 1950s and 1960s. In addition, after decades of net emigration, since the late 1980s Italy has experienced large-scale international immigration. As a result, in 2024 there were 5.4 million foreign-born residents in the country, or about 9.2% of Italy's total population.
High fertility and birth rates persisted through the 1970s, then declined sharply in the 1980s and 1990s, leading to rapid population aging. At the end of the 2000s, one in five Italians was over 65 years old. In 2024, Italy's total fertility rate was 1.18, well below the EU average and one of the lowest in the world.
Since the revision of the Lateran Treaty in 1984, Italy has no official religion, although the Catholic Church enjoys a privileged legal status and plays a prominent role in Italian society and politics. In 2017, 78% of the population identified as Catholic, 15% as non-believers or atheists, 2% as other Christians and 6% adhered to other religions.

Historical overview

1861 to early 20th century

After achieving its unification in 1861, Italy experienced a prolonged period of net emigration, mainly caused by the breakdown of traditional agrarian structures coupled with slow industrialization, that peaked in the years before World War I. Between 1898 and 1914, at the height of Italian diaspora, up to 750,000 Italians left the country every year in search of brighter prospects. As a consequence, significant numbers of people with Italian ancestry are found in Brazil, Argentina, United States, France, Venezuela, Paraguay, Colombia, Uruguay, Peru, Canada, Germany and Australia.
In addition, Italian communities once thrived in the former Italian colonial empire. There were about 100,000 settlers living in Eritrea and Somalia, and about 150,000 in Libya; that mostly left Africa after World War II and decolonization.

After 1945

Outcomes of World War II and decolonization

After communist Yugoslavia annexed Istria, Kvarner, most of the Julian March as well as the Dalmatian city of Zara following the Treaty of Peace with Italy, 1947, up to 350,000 local ethnic Italians fled to Italy in the Istrian–Dalmatian exodus. In addition, World War II itself caused half a million military and civilian casualties. Finally, in 1970 about 20,000 Italians were expelled from Libya by Muammar Gaddafi's regime.

Post-war economic miracle

Rapid economic growth in the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s caused massive inflows of migrants from rural areas of Southern Italy to the so-called "industrial triangle", the area containing the major industrial cities of Milan and Turin and the seaport of Genoa, in north-west Italy. Between 1955 and 1971, around 9 million people are estimated to have been involved in inter-regional migrations, uprooting entire communities and creating large metropolitan areas.

21st century

The rapid transition from agrarian to post-industrial society accelerated numerous demographic trends, including a sharp decline in fertility and birth rates, fast population aging and a shrinking workforce; by the 1980s emigration had all but stopped and Italy started to have a positive net migration rate. By the 1990s, as Italy's TFR dropped below 1.2 and deaths outpaced births, international migration became the main driver of population growth. Foreign-born residents in Italy increased from 1.3 million in 2001, to 4 million in 2011, and 5.2 million in 2021.
In the 2010s, as a combined effect of the global financial crisis, the Eurozone crisis double-dip recession and the Arab Spring, Italy experienced a significant slowdown in legal international migration, that coincided with the arrival of more than 150,000 illegal asylum seekers.
As a direct effect of the 2020-2023 COVID-19 pandemic, Italy registered more than 198,000 excess deaths, while the associated economic uncertainty and disruption of social relations have been linked to a marked decline in fertility rates across numerous Western countries, including Italy. In subsequent years, the average number of births in Italy fell from 494,000 in 2010–19 to 399,000 in 2020–22, while deaths increased from 617,000 to 719,000; as a result, the natural balance declined form -123,000 to -320,000, largely not compensated by net migration, discouraged by COVID-19 restrictions and the Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Population

Life expectancy

Sources: Our World In Data and the United Nations.
1871–1950

Years	1871	1872	1873	1874	1875	1876	1877	1878	1879	1880
Life expectancy	29.8	29.7	31.6	31.8	31.3	33.6	34.9	34.3	34.0	32.8
Years	1881	1882	1883	1884	1885	1886	1887	1888	1889	1890
Life expectancy	34.2	34.3	35.2	36.6	36.9	35.1	36.0	37.0	39.1	38.5
Years	1891	1892	1893	1894	1895	1896	1897	1898	1899	1900
Life expectancy	38.5	38.9	39.8	40.0	39.6	40.7	43.3	42.3	43.7	67.8
Years	1901	1902	1903	1904	1905	1906	1907	1908	1909	1910
Life expectancy	43.5	43.0	43.1	44.4	43.9	45.1	45.4	43.1	44.6	46.7
Years	1911	1912	1913	1914	1915	1916	1917	1918	1919	1920
Life expectancy	44.7	48.9	48.4	49.9	42.5	39.6	38.1	25.8	42.3	45.5
Years	1921	1922	1923	1924	1925	1926	1927	1928	1929	1930
Life expectancy	49.2	50.0	51.4	51.5	51.3	50.9	52.5	52.6	52.3	55.2
Years	1931	1932	1933	1934	1935	1936	1937	1938	1939	1940
Life expectancy	54.8	54.7	56.3	56.8	56.2	56.7	55.5	56.1	57.6	57.0
Years	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945	1946	1947	1948	1949	1950
Life expectancy	54.7	52.5	49.4	52.4	54.9	59.0	61.2	63.4	64.1	65.8

1950–2020

Period	Life expectancy in Years	Period	Life expectancy in Years
1950–1955	66.5	1985–1990	76.4
1955–1960	68.4	1990–1995	77.5
1960–1965	69.7	1995–2000	78.8
1965–1970	70.9	2000–2005	80.3
1970–1975	72.2	2005–2010	81.5
1975–1980	73.6	2010–2015	82.4
1980–1985	74.9	2015–2020	83.3

Source: ''UN World Population Prospects''

Fertility

Italy experienced a short-term growth in fertility and birth rates in the 2000s. The TFR temporarily rose from an all-time low of 1.18 children per woman in 1995 to 1.46 in 2010. By 2024, Italy's TFR dropped again to 1.18. The decline in fertility, that in Italy and Spain is more pronounced that in northern European countries, has long puzzled demographers; some tentative explanations could be rooted in the lack of affordable childcare services and sociocultural norms regarding family building and female work participation.
In 2021 this was 1.47 children born/woman
Mother's mean age at first birth; 31.1 years

Historical Total Fertility Rate

Age structure

'''Median age'''

Cities

70.4% of Italian population is classified as urban, a relatively low figure among developed countries. Italy's administrative boundaries have seen significant devolution in recent decades; the metropolitan area was created as a new administrative unit, and major cities and metro areas now have a provincial status.
According to OECD, the largest conurbations are:

Milan – 7.4 million
Rome – 3.7 million
Naples – 3.1 million
Turin – 2.2 million

Urbanization

Metropolitan city	Region	Area	Population	Functional Urban Areas Population
Rome	Lazio	5,352	4,223,885	4,414,288
Milan	Lombardy	1,575	3,247,623	5,111,481
Naples	Campania	1,171	2,958,410	3,418,061
Turin	Piedmont	6,829	2,207,873	1,769,475
Palermo	Sicily	5,009	1,194,439	1,033,226
Bari	Apulia	3,821	1,218,191	749,723
Catania	Sicily	3,574	1,058,563	658,805
Florence	Tuscany	3,514	989,460	807,896
Bologna	Emilia-Romagna	3,702	1,020,865	775,247
Genoa	Liguria	1,839	818,651	713,243
Venice	Veneto	2,462	833,934	561,697
Messina	Sicily	3,266	595,948	273,680
Reggio Calabria	Calabria	3,183	511,935	221,139
Cagliari	Sardinia	1,248	417,079	488,954