Demographics of Italy

Historical overview

1861 to early 20th century

After 1945

Outcomes of World War II and decolonization

Post-war economic miracle

21st century

Population

Life expectancy

Fertility

Age structure

Cities

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

Vital statistics

Statistics since 1862

• 1916-1918 – World War I

Total fertility rates by region

Region

TFR

Trentino-Alto Adige Total fertility rates by province Provinces TFR South Tyrol|name=Bolzano Structure of the population Age group Male Female Total % Total 28 866 226 30 369 987 59 236 213 100 0–4 1 138 845 1 077 665 2 216 510 3.74 5–9 1 326 061 1 252 279 2 578 340 4.35 10–14 1 463 873 1 377 822 2 841 695 4.80 15–19 1 476 815 1 380 198 2 857 013 4.82 20–24 1 549 500 1 407 840 2 957 340 4.99 25–29 1 566 265 1 479 314 3 045 579 5.14 30–34 1 633 887 1 592 259 3 226 146 5.45 35–39 1 747 529 1 735 723 3 483 252 5.88 40–44 2 001 502 2 007 068 4 008 570 6.77 45–49 2 329 457 2 363 044 4 692 501 7.92 50–54 2 377 041 2 440 634 4 817 675 8.13 55–59 2 261 108 2 362 857 4 623 965 7.81 60–64 1 901 209 2 044 887 3 946 096 6.66 65–69 1 652 948 1 821 385 3 474 333 5.87 70–74 1 609 510 1 831 661 3 441 171 5.81 75–79 1 140 634 1 406 576 2 547 210 4.30 80–84 953 118 1 324 845 2 277 963 3.85 85–89 513 213 882 889 1 396 102 2.36 90–94 186 194 443 464 629 658 1.06 95–99 34 670 123 247 157 917 0.27 100–104 2 728 13 404 16 132 0.03 105–109 117 907 1 024 <0.01 110+ 2 19 21 <0.01 Age group Male Female Total Percent 0–14 3 928 779 3 707 766 7 636 545 12.89 15–64 18 844 313 18 813 824 37 658 137 63.57 65+ 6 093 134 7 848 397 13 941 531 23.54 Health '''Obesity – adult prevalence rate''' Employment and income Unemployment, youth ages 15–24: Immigration Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and more recently, the 2004 and 2007 enlargements of the European Union, Italy received growing flows of migrants from the former socialist countries of Eastern Europe. The second most important area of immigration to Italy has always been the neighboring North Africa. Furthermore, in recent years, growing migration fluxes from the Far East and Latin America have been recorded. Italy does not collect data on ethnicity or race of the country, but does collect data on nationality of its residents. In 2021, Istat estimated that 5,171,894 foreign citizens lived in Italy, representing about 8.7% of the total population. These figures do not include naturalized foreign-born residents as well as illegal immigrants, the so-called clandestini, whose numbers, difficult to determine, are thought to be at least 670,000. Romanians made up the largest community in the country, followed by Albanians and Moroccans. The fourth largest community of foreign residents in Italy was represented by the Chinese. The majority of Chinese living in Italy are from the city of Wenzhou in the province of Zhejiang. Breaking down the foreign-born population by continent, in 2020 the figures were as follows: Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas and Oceania. The distribution of immigrants is largely uneven in Italy: 83% of immigrants live in the northern and central parts of the country, while only 17% live in the southern half of the peninsula. ;Net migration rate Year Population Ref. 2002 1,341,209 2003 1,464,663 2004 1,854,748 2005 2,210,478 2006 2,419,483 2007 2,592,950 2008 3,023,317 2009 3,402,435 2010 3,648,128 2011 3,879,224 2012 4,052,081 2013 4,387,721 2014 4,922,085 2015 5,014,437 2016 5,026,153 2017 5,047,028 2018 5,144,440 2019 5,255,503 2020 5,171,894 2021 5,030,716 2022 5,141,341 2023 5,253,658 2024 5,371,251 There are, as of 2022, 5,030,716 Foreign-born residents, accounting for 8.5% of the total population. Their distribution by country of origin was as follows: Country Population Italy migration data Year Emigration Immigration Net Migration 1971 167,721 128,572 -39,149 1972 141,852 138,246 -3,606 1973 123,802 125,168 1,366 1974 112,020 116,708 4,688 1975 92,666 122,774 30,108 1976 97,247 115,997 18,750 1977 87,655 101,985 14,330 1978 85,550 89,897 4,347 1979 88,950 91,693 2,743 1980 84,877 90,463 5,586 1981 89,221 88,886 -335 1982 98,241 92,423 -5,818 1983 85,138 87,804 2,666 1984 77,318 77,002 -316 1985 66,737 67,277 540 1986 57,862 56,006 -1,856 1987 38,305 57,665 19,360 1988 36,660 52,562 15,902 1989 59,894 53,893 -6,001 1990 48,916 70,035 21,119 1991 51,478 56,004 4,526 1992 50,226 54,849 4,623 1993 54,980 49,261 -5,719 1994 59,402 46,761 -12,641 1995 34,886 28,472 -6,414 1996 39,017 28,816 -10,201 1997 38,984 30,352 -8,632 1998 38,148 29,946 -8,202 1999 56,283 32,152 -24,131 2000 47,480 34,411 -13,069 2001 46,901 35,416 -11,485 2002 34,056 44,476 10,420 2003 39,866 47,530 7,664 2004 39,155 41,794 2,639 2005 41,991 37,326 -4,665 2006 46,308 37,666 -8,642 2007 36,299 36,693 394 2008 39,536 32,118 -7,418 2009 39,024 29,330 -9,694 2010 39,545 28,192 -11,353 2011 50,057 31,466 -18,591 2012 67,998 29,467 -38,531 2013 82,095 28,433 -53,662 2014 88,859 29,271 -59,588 Year Immigration Emigration Net Migration 2002 213,202 41,756 171,446 2003 440,301 48,706 391,595 2004 414,880 49,910 364,970 2005 304,960 53,931 251,029 2006 279,714 58,407 221,307 2007 527,123 51,113 476,010 2008 494,394 67,671 426,723 2009 421,859 64,921 356,938 2010 447,744 67,501 380,243 2011 385,793 82,461 303,332 2012 350,772 106,216 244,556 2013 307,454 125,735 181,719 2014 277,631 136,328 141,303 2015 280,078 146,955 133,123 2016 300,823 157,065 143,758 2017 343,440 155,110 188,330 2018 332,324 159,960 172,364 2019 332,778 179,505 153,273 2020 247,526 158,884 88,642 2021 318,366 158,312 160,054 2022 410,985 150,189 260,796 2023 439,658 158,438 281,220 2024 434,579 190,967 243,612 Languages Italy's official language is Italian; Ethnologue has estimated that there are about 55 million speakers of Italian in the country and a further 6.7 million outside of it, primarily in the neighboring countries and in the Italian diaspora worldwide. Italian, adopted by the central state after the unification of Italy, is a language 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. When Italy unified in 1861, only 3% of the population spoke Italian, even though an estimated 90% of Italians speak Italian as their L1 nowadays. Italy is in fact one of the most linguistically diverse countries in Europe, as there are not only varieties of Italian specific to each cultural region, but also distinct regional and minority languages. The establishment of the national education system has led to the emergence of the former and a decrease in the use of the latter. The spread of Italian was further expanded in the 1950s and 1960s, because of the economic growth and the rise of mass media and television, with the state broadcaster setting a colloquial variety of Italian to which the population would be exposed. As a way to distance itself from the Italianization policies promoted because of nationalism, Italy recognized twelve languages as the Country's "linguistic minorities|historical linguistic minorities]", which are promoted alongside Italian in their respective territories. French is co-official in the Aosta Valley as the province's prestige variety, under which the more commonly spoken Franco-Provencal dialects have been historically roofed. German has the same status in the province of Bolzano as, in some parts of that province and in parts of the neighbouring Trentino, does Ladin. Slovene and Friulian are officially recognised in the provinces of Trieste, Gorizia and Udine in Venezia Giulia. In Sardinia, the Sardinian language has been the language traditionally spoken and is often regarded by linguists as constituting its own branch of Romance; in the 1990s, Sardinian has been recognized as "having equal dignity" with Italian, the introduction of which to the island officially started under the rule of the House of Savoy in the 18th century. In these regions, official documents are either bilingual in the co-official language by default, or available as such upon request. Traffic signs are also multilingual, except in the Valle d'Aosta where French toponyms are generally used, with the exception of Aosta itself, which has retained its Latin form in Italian as well as English. Attempts to Italianize them, especially during the Fascist period, have been formally abandoned. Education is possible in minority languages where such schools are operating. UNESCO and other authorities recognize a number of other languages which are not legally protected by Italian government: Piedmontese, Venetian, Ligurian, Lombard, Emilian-Romagnolo, Neapolitan and Sicilian. Religion is by far the largest religion in the country, although the Catholic Church is no longer officially the state religion. In 2006, 87.8% of Italy's population self-identified as Catholic, although only about one-third of these described themselves as active members. In 2016, 71.1% of Italian citizens self-identified as Catholic. This increased again to 78% in 2018. Most Italians believe in God, or a form of a spiritual life force. According to a Eurobarometer Poll in 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'. There are no data collected through census. Christianity The Italian Catholic Church is part of the global 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 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 saints, martyrs and popes were Italian themselves. 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 and Giotto. 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. Catholicism is the largest religion and Christian denomination in Italy, with around 71.1% of Italians considering themselves Catholic. Italy is also home to the greatest number of cardinals in the world, and is the country with the greatest number of Catholic churches per capita. File:Santa Maria del Fiore.jpg|thumb|right|The Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral in Florence, which has the biggest brick dome in the world, and is considered a masterpiece of Italian architecture. Even though the main Christian denomination in Italy is Catholicism, there are some minorities of Protestant, Waldensian, Eastern Orthodox and other Christian 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% or more than 700,000 Eastern Orthodox Christians including 180,000 Greek Orthodox, 550,000 Pentecostals and Evangelists, of whom 400,000 are members of the Assemblies of God, about 250,000 are Jehovah's Witnesses, 30,000 Waldensians, 25,000 Seventh-day Adventists, 22,000 Mormons, 15,000 Baptists, 7,000 Lutherans, 4,000 Methodists. Other religions The longest-established religious faith in Italy is Judaism, Jews having been present in Ancient Rome before the birth of Christ. Italy has seen many influential Italian-Jews, such as prime minister Luigi Luzzatti, who took office in 1910, Ernesto Nathan served as mayor of Rome from 1907 to 1913 and Shabbethai Donnolo. 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 48,000 Italian Jews were killed. 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 religions. As of 2009, there were 1.0 million Muslims in Italy forming 1.6 percent of population; independent estimates put the Islamic population in Italy anywhere from 0.8 million to 1.5 million. 50,000 Italian Muslims hold Italian citizenship. There are more than 200,000 followers of faiths originating in the Indian subcontinent, including some 70,000 Sikhs with 22 gurdwaras across the country, 70,000 Hindus, and 50,000 Buddhists. There were an estimated 4,900 Bahá'ís in Italy in 2005. Education Literacy '''School life expectancy ''' Genetics and ethnic groups The genetic history of Italy is greatly influenced by geography and history. The ancestors of Italians are mostly Indo-European speakers and pre-Indo-European speakers. During the imperial period of Ancient Rome, the city of Rome was also home to people from various regions throughout the Mediterranean basin, including Southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Based on DNA analysis, there is evidence of ancient regional genetic substructure and continuity within modern Italy dating to the pre-Roman and Roman periods. The Italian population is marked by considerable cultural, linguistic, genetic and historical diversity which results in the presence of several distinct groups throughout the peninsula. In this regard, peoples like the Friulians, the Ladins, the Sardinians and the Tyrolese, who are recognized linguistic minorities, or even the Sicilians who are not, serve as cases in point attesting to such internal diversity. Linguistic minorities in Italy include Sardu-speakers 1 million, Tyrolese German-speakers 350,000, Albanians 70,000 – 100,000, Slovenes 60,000, Franco-Provençal-speakers 50,000 – 70,000, Occitans 20,000 – 40,000, Ladins 30,000, Catalans 15,000, Greek-speakers 12,000, Croatians 3,000 and Friulians 600,000. The Roma community is one of the largest ethnic minorities in Italy. Due to the lack of disaggregated data the size of the Italian Roma community remains unknown. The Council of Europe estimates that between 120,000 and 180,000 Roma live in Italy. A significant proportion of Roma in Italy do not have Italian citizenship.