Map of Italy | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide1989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 | 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: Southern Europe, a peninsula extending into the central Mediterranean Sea

Geographic coordinates

Map reference: Africa, Europe, Standard Time Zones of the World

Area
Total area total: 301,230 km²
Land: 294,020 km²

Land boundaries: total 1,899.2 km, Austria 430 km, France 488 km, Holy See (Vatican City) 3.2 km, San Marino 39 km, Slovenia 199 km, Switzerland 740 km

Coastline: 4,996 km

Maritime claims
Continental shelf: 200-m depth 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
Arable land: 32%
Permanent crops: 10%
Meadows and pastures: 17%
Forest and woodland: 22%
Other: 19%

Irrigated land: 31,000 km² (1989 est.)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards: regional risks include landslides, mudflows, avalanches, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flooding; land subsidence in Venice

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


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Population: 58,138,394 (July 1994 est.)
Growth rate: 0.21% (1994 est.)

Nationality: noun:Italian(s)

Ethnic groups: Italian (includes small clusters of German-, French-, and Slovene-Italians in the north and Albanian-Italians and Greek-Italians in the south), Sicilians, Sardinians

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

Religions: Roman Catholic 98%, other 2%

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate: 0.21% (1994 est.)

Birth rate: 10.79 births/1000 population (1994 est.)

Death rate: 9.71 deaths/1000 population (1994 est.)

Net migration rate: 1.03 migrant(s)/1000 population (1994 est.)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: air pollution from industrial emissions such as sulfur dioxide; coastal and inland rivers polluted from industrial and agricultural effluents; acid rain damaging lakes

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 7.6 deaths/1000 live births (1994 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 77.64 years
Male: 74.44 years
Female: 81.04 years (1994 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.39 children born/woman (1994 est.)

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: age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)
Total population: 97%
Male: 98%
Female: 96%

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form: Italian Republic
Conventional short form:
Former: Kingdom of Italy

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; 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: 18 years of age, universal (except in senatorial elections, where minimum age is 25)

Executive branch
Chief of state: President Oscar Luigi SCALFARO (since 28 May 1992)
Head of government: Prime Minister Silvio BERLUSCONI (since 11 May 1994)

Legislative branch: Army, Navy, Air Force, Carabinieri
Senate Senato della Repubblica: elections last held 27-28 March 1994 (next expected to be held by spring 2001); results - percent of vote by party NA; seats - (326 total; 315 elected, 11 appointed senators-for-life) PDS 61, Northern League 60, National Alliance 48, Forza Italia 36, Popular Party 31, Communist Refounding 18, Greens and The Network 13, Socialist Party 13, Christian Democratic Center 12, Democratic Alliance 8, Christian Socialists 5, Pact for Italy 4, Radical Party 1, others 5
Chamber of Deputies Camera dei Deputati: elections last held 27-28 March 1994 (next expected to be held by spring 2001); results - percent of vote by party NA; seats - (630 total) Northern League 117, PDS 114, Forza Italia 113, National Alliance 109, Communist Refounding 39, Christian Democratic Center 33, Popular Party 33, Greens and The Network 20, Democratic Alliance 18, Socialist Party 16, Pact for Italy 13, Christian Socialists 5

Judicial branch: Constitutional Court (Corte Costituzionale)

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation: AfDB, AG (observer), Australia Group, AsDB, BIS, CCC, CDB (non-regional), CE, CEI, CERN, COCOM, CSCE, EBRD, EC, ECE, ECLAC, EIB, ESA, FAO, G-7, G-10, GATT, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, IDA, IFAD, IEA, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, LAIA (observer), LORCS, MINURSO, MTCR, NACC, NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, ONUSAL, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNIKOM, UNMOGIP, UNOSOM, UNTAC, UNTSO, UPU, WCL, WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC

Diplomatic representation
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador Reginald BARTHOLOMEW
From the us chancery: 1601 Fuller Street NW, Washington, DC 20,009
From the us telephone: [39] (6) 46,741
From the us consulates general: Florence, Milan, Naples
From the us consulates: Detroit, New Orleans, and Newark (New Jersey)
From the us embassy: Via Veneto 119/A, 00187-Rome
From the us mailing address: PSC 59, Box 100, Rome; APO AE 9,624
From the us FAX: [39] (6) 488-2,672

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 Cote d'Ivoire, 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 Italian 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 private companies, and an undeveloped agricultural south, dominated by large public enterprises. Services account for 48% of GDP, industry 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% in 1983-90, growth slowed to about 1% in 1991 and 1992 and fell by 0.7% in 1993. In the second half of 1992, Rome became unsettled by the prospect of not qualifying to participate in EC plans for economic and monetary union later in the decade; thus it finally began to address its huge fiscal imbalances. Thanks to the determination of Prime Ministers AMATO and CIAMPI, the government adopted a fairly stringent budget for 1993 and 1994, abandoned its highly inflationary wage indexation system, and started to scale back its extremely generous social welfare programs, including pension and health care benefits. Monetary officials were forced to withdraw the lira from the European monetary system in September 1992 when it came under extreme pressure in currency markets. 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 Union.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: -0.7% (1993)

Real gdp per capita: $16,700 (1993)

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: accounts for about 4% of GDP and about 9.8% of the work force; self-sufficient in foods other than meat, dairy products, and cereals; principal crops - fruits, vegetables, grapes, potatoes, sugar beets, soybeans, grain, olives; fish catch of 525,000 metric tons in 1990

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

Industrial production growth rate: -2.8% (1993 est.), accounts for almost 35% of GDP

Labor force: 23.988 million
By occupation services: 58%
By occupation industry: 32.2%
By occupation agriculture: 9.8% (1988)

Unemployment rate: 11.3% (January 1994)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget: revenues:$302 billion

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: $178.2 billion (f.o.b., 1992)
Commodities: metals, textiles and clothing, production machinery, motor vehicles, transportation equipment, chemicals, other
Partners: EC 58.3%, US 6.8%, OPEC 5.1% (1992)

Imports: $188.5 billion (f.o.b., 1992)
Commodities: industrial machinery, chemicals, transport equipment, petroleum, metals, food, agricultural products
Partners: EC 58.8%, OPEC 6.1%, US 5.5% (1992)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external: $67 billion (1993 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: Italian lire (Lit) per US$1 - 1,700.2 (January 1994), 1,573.7 (1993), 1,232.4 (1992), 1,240.6 (1991), 1,198.1 (1990), 1,372.1 (1989)


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Electricity
Capacity: 58,000,000 kW
Production: 235 billion kWh
Consumption per capita: 4,060 kWh (1992)

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
Dollar figure: exchange rate conversion - $16.1 billion, 1.3% of GDP (1992)

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: 137
Usable: 132
With permanentsurface runways: 92
With runways over 3659 m: 2
With runways 2440-3659 m: 36
With runways 1220-2439 m: 39

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: 474 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 6,055,779 GRT/8,924,779 DWT, bulk 50, cargo 72, chemical tanker 34, combination bulk 1, combination ore/oil 5, container 20, liquefied gas 39, multifunction large-load carrier 1, oil tanker 129, passenger 8, refrigerated cargo 2, roll-on/roll-off cargo 62, short-sea passenger 34, specialized tanker 10, vehicle carrier 7

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international: none

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs: important gateway country for Latin American cocaine and Southwest Asian heroin entering the European market