Map of Italy | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024 | 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
Total: 301,230 km²
Land: 294, 020 km²; includes Sardinia and Sicily
Comparative: slightly larger than Arizona

Land boundaries: 1,899.2 km; Austria 430 km, France 488 km, San Marino 39 km, Slovenia 199 km, Switzerland 740 km, Vatican City 3.2 km

Coastline: 4,996 km

Maritime claims
Continental shelf: 200 m (depth) or to depth of exploitation
Territorial sea: 12 nm
Disputes: none

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

Irrigated land

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards

Geography


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Population: 57,904,628 (July 1992), growth rate 0.2% (1992)

Nationality: noun - Italian(s; adjective - Italian

Ethnic groups:

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

Religions: virtually 100% Roman Catholic

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate

Birth rate: 10 births/1000 population (1992)

Death rate: 10 deaths/1000 population (1992)

Net migration rate: 1 migrant/1000 population (1992)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: regional risks include land-slides, mudflows, snowslides, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flooding, pollution; land sinkage in Venice
Current issues note: strategic location dominating central Mediterranean as well as southern sea and air approaches to Western Europe

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 8 deaths/1000 live births (1992)

Life expectancy at birth: 74 years male, 81 years female (1992)

Total fertility rate: 1.4 children born/woman (1992)

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: 97% (male 98%, female 96%) age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)

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:

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; appeals treated as trials de novo; 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)
Senate: last held 5-6 April 1992 (next to be held by April 1997); results - DC 33.9%, PCI 28.3%, PSI 10.7%, other 27.1%; seats - (326 total, 315 elected) DC 107, PDS 64, PSI 49, Leagues 25, other 70
Chamber of Deputies:

Executive branch:

Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament (Parlamento) consists of an upper chamber or Senate of the Republic (Senato della Repubblica) and a lower chamber or Chamber of Deputies (Camera dei Deputati)

Judicial branch: Constitutional Court (Corte Costituzionale)

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation:
Diplomatic representation:
US: Ambassador Peter F. SECCHIA; Embassy at Via Veneto 119/A, 00187, Rome (mailing address is APO AE 9,624); telephone 39 (6) 46,741, FAX 39 (6) 467-2,356; there are US Consulates General in Florence, Genoa, Milan, Naples, and Palermo (Sicily)

Diplomatic representation

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 small private companies, and an undeveloped agricultural south, dominated by large public enterprises. Services account for 48% of GDP, industry about 35%, agriculture 4%, and public administration 13%. Most raw materials needed by industry and over 75% of energy requirements must be imported. After growing at an annual average rate of 3% during the period 1983-90, growth slowed to about 1% in 1991. For the 1990s, Italy faces the problems of refurbishing a tottering communications system, curbing pollution in major industrial centers, and adjusting to the new competitive forces accompanying the ongoing economic integration of the European Community.
GDP: purchasing power equivalent - $965.0 billion, per capita $16,700; real growth rate 1.0% (1991 est.)

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate

Real gdp per capita

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: accounts for about 4% of GDP and 10% 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 388,200 metric tons in 1988

Industries: machinery, iron and steel, chemicals, food processing, textiles, motor vehicles, clothing, footwear, ceramics

Industrial production growth rate: growth rate - 2.0% (1991; accounts for almost 35% of GDP

Labor force: 23,988,000; services 58%, industry 32.2%, agriculture 9.8% (1988)
Organized labor: 40-45% of labor force (est.)

Unemployment rate: 11.0% (1991 est.)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget: revenues $431 billion; expenditures $565 billion, including capital expenditures of $48 billion (1991)

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

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: $209 billion (f.o.b., 1991)
Commodoties: textiles, wearing apparel, metals, transportation equipment, chemicals
Partners: EC 58.5%, US 8%, OPEC 4%

Imports: $222 billion (c.i.f., 1991)
Commodoties: petroleum, industrial machinery, chemicals, metals, food, agricultural products
Partners: EC 58%, OPEC 7%, US 5%

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: Italian lire (Lit) per US$1 - 1,248.4 (March 1992), 1,240.6 (January 1991), 1,198.1 (1990), 1,372.1 (1989), 1,301.6 (1988), 1,296.1 (1987)


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Electricity
Production: 57,500,000 kW capacity; 235,000 million kWh produced, 4,072 kWh per capita (1991)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Percent of gdp:

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:

Heliports

Pipelines: crude oil 1,703 km; petroleum 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:
Civil air: 125 major transport aircraft

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs