Map of Italy | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide19891990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023 | More stats

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Background: Italy failed to secure political unification until the 1860s, thus lacking the military and imperial power of Spain, Britain, and France. The fascist dictatorship of MUSSOLINI after World War I, led to the disastrous alliance with HITLER's Germany and defeat in World War II. Italy was a founding member of the European Economic Community (EEC) and joined in the growing political and economic unification of Western Europe. On-going problems include illegal immigration, the ravages of organized crime, high unemployment, and the low incomes and technical standards of Southern Italy compared with the North.


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Location

Geographic coordinates

Map reference

Area

Land boundaries: 1,902.2 km total; Austria 430 km, France 488 km, San Marino 39 km, Switzerland 740 km, Vatican City 3.2 km, Yugoslavia 202 km

Coastline: 4,996 km

Maritime claims
Continental shelf: 200 m or to depth of exploitation
Territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate: predominantly Mediterranean; Alpine in far north; hot, dry in south

Terrain: mostly rugged and mountainous; some plains, coastal lowlands

Elevation

Natural resources: mercury, potash, marble, sulfur, dwindling natural gas and crude oil reserves, fish, coal

Land use: 32% arable land; 10% permanent crops; 17% meadows and pastures; 22% forest and woodland; 19% other; includes 10% irrigated

Irrigated land

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards

Geography
Note: strategic location dominating central Mediterranean as well as southern sea and air approaches to Western Europe


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Population: 57,664,405 (July 1990), growth rate 0.2% (1990)

Nationality: noun--Italian(s; adjective--Italian

Ethnic groups: primarily Italian but population includes small clusters of German-, French-, and Slovene-Italians in the north and Albanian-Italians in the south; Sicilians; Sardinians

Languages: Italian; parts of Trentino-Alto Adige region are predominantly German speaking; significant French-speaking minority in Valle d'Aosta region; Slovene-speaking minority in the Trieste-Gorizia area

Religions: almost 100% nominally Roman Catholic

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate

Birth rate: 10 births/1000 population (1990)

Death rate: 9 deaths/1000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: 1 migrant/1000 population (1990)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: regional risks include landslides, mudflows, snowslides, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flooding, pollution; land sinkage in Venice

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 6 deaths/1000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 74 years male, 81 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 1.4 children born/woman (1990)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy: 93%

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name: conventional long form: Italian Republic

Government type: republic

Capital: Rome

Administrative divisions: 20 regions (regioni, singular--regione; Abruzzi, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardia, Marche, Molise, Piemonte, Puglia, Sardegna, Sicilia, Toscana, Trentino-Alto Adige, Umbria, Valle d'Aosta, Veneto

Dependent areas

Independence: 17 March 1861, Kingdom of Italy proclaimed

National holiday: Anniversary of the Republic, 2 June (1946)

Constitution: 1 January 1948

Legal system: based on civil law system, with ecclesiastical law influence; judicial review under certain conditions in Constitutional Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: universal at age 18 (except in senatorial elections, where minimum age is 25)

Executive branch: Chief of State--President Francesco COSSIGA (since 3 July 1985; Head of Government--Prime Minister Giulio ANDREOTTI (since 22 July 1989, heads the government for the sixth time; Deputy Prime Minister Claudio MARTELLI (since 23 July 1989)

Legislative branch: Army, Navy, Air Force

Judicial branch: Constitutional Court (Corte Costituzionale)

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation: ADB, ASSIMER, CCC, Council of Europe, DAC, EC, ECOWAS, EIB, EMS, ESA, FAO, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, ICO, IDA, IDB--Inter-American Development Bank, IFAD, IEA, IFC, IHO, ILO, ILZSG, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOOC, IPU, IRC, ITC, ITU, NATO, OAS (observer), OECD, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WSG

Diplomatic representation
In the us: Ambassador Rinaldo PETRIGNANI; Chancery at 1601 Fuller Street NW, Washington DC 20,009; telephone (202) 328-5,500; there are Italian Consulates General in Boston, Chicago, Houston, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Consulates in Detroit and Newark (New Jersey; US--Ambassador Peter F. SECCHIA; Embassy at Via Veneto 119/A, 00187-Rome (mailing address is APO New York 9,794; telephone p39o (6) 46,741; there are US Consulates General in Florence, Genoa, Milan, Naples, and Palermo (Sicily)

Flag description: three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side), white, and red; similar to the flag of Ireland which is longer and is green (hoist side), white, and orange; also similar to the flag of the Ivory Coast which has the colors reversed--orange (hoist side), white, and green

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: Since World War II the economy has changed from one based on agriculture into a ranking industrial economy, with approximately the same total and per capita output as France and the UK. The country is still divided into a developed industrial north, dominated by large private companies and state enterprises and an undeveloped agricultural south. Services account for 58% of GDP, industry 37%, and agriculture 5%. Most raw materials needed by industry and over 75% of energy requirements must be imported. The economic recovery that began in mid-1983 has continued through 1989, with the economy growing at an annual average rate of 3%. For the 1990s, Italy faces the problems of refurbishing a tottering communications system, curbing the increasing pollution in major industrial centers, and adjusting to the new competitive forces accompanying the ongoing economic integration of the European Community.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate

Real gdp per capita ppp

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: accounts for about 5% of GNP and 5% of the work force; self-sufficient in foods other than meat and dairy products; principal crops--fruits, vegetables, grapes, potatoes, sugar beets, soybeans, grain, olives; fish catch of 554,000 metric tons in 1987

Industries: machinery and transportation equipment, iron and steel, chemicals, food processing, textiles, motor vehicles

Industrial production growth rate: 2.9% (1989)

Labor force:

Unemployment rate: 11.9% (1989)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget: revenues $355 billion; expenditures $448 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1989)

Public debt

Taxes and other revenues

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Current account balance

Inflation rate consumer prices

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $141.6 billion (f.o.b., 1989)
Commodities: textiles, wearing apparel, metals, transportation equipment, chemicals
Partners: EC 57%, US 9%, OPEC 4%

Imports: $143.1 billion (f.o.b., 1989)
Commodities: petroleum, industrial machinery, chemicals, metals, food, agricultural products
Partners: EC 57%, OPEC 6%, US 6%

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external: NA

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: Italian lire (Lit) per US$1--1,262.5 (January 1990), 1,372.1 (1989), 1,301.6 (1988), 1,296.1 (1987), 1,490.8 (1986), 1,909.4 (1985)


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Electricity access

Electricity production

Electricity consumption

Electricity exports

Electricity imports

Electricity installed generating capacity

Electricity transmission distribution losses

Electricity generation sources

Petroleum

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones fixed lines

Telephones mobile cellular

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet country code

Internet users

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Percent of gdp: 2.4% of GDP, or $19 billion (1989 est.)

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 143 total, 138 usable; 88 with permanent-surface runways; 2 with runways over 3,659 m; 35 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 42 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Airports with paved runways

Airports with unpaved runways

Heliports

Pipelines: crude oil, 1,703 km; refined products, 2,148 km; natural gas, 19,400 km

Railways

Roadways

Waterways: 2,400 km for various types of commercial traffic, although of limited overall value

Merchant marine: 547 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 6,871,505 GRT/10,805,368 DWT; includes 6 passenger, 41 short-sea passenger, 100 cargo, 5 refrigerated cargo, 22 container, 72 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 4 vehicle carrier, 1 multifunction large-load carrier, 2 livestock carrier, 147 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 37 chemical tanker, 29 liquefied gas, 8 specialized tanker, 16 combination ore/oil, 55 bulk, 2 combination bulk

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international: South Tyrol question with Austria

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs