Map of Italy | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024 | More stats

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Background: Italy became a nation-state belatedly - in 1861 when the city-states of the peninsula and Sicily were united under King Victor EMMANUEL. The Fascist dictatorship of Benito MUSSOLINI that took over after World War I led to a disastrous alliance with Nazi Germany and Italian defeat in World War II. Revival followed. Italy was a charter member of NATO and the European Economic Community (EEC) and joined the growing political and economic unification of Western Europe including the introduction of the euro in 1999. Persistent problems include illegal immigration the ravages of organized crime corruption high unemployment and the low incomes and technical standards of southern Italy compared with the more prosperous north.


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Location: Southern Europe a peninsula extending into the central Mediterranean Sea northeast of Tunisia

Geographic coordinates: 42 50 N 12 50 E

Map reference: Europe

Area
Comparative: slightly larger than Arizona

Land boundaries

Coastline: 7,600 km

Maritime claims

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 arable land

Land use

Irrigated land: 27,100 km² (1993 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: 57,634,327 (July 2000 est.)
Growth rate: 0.09% (2000 est.)
Below poverty line: NA%

Nationality

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

Languages: Italian (official) 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: predominately Roman Catholic with mature Protestant and Jewish communities and a growing Muslim immigrant community

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate: 0.09% (2000 est.)

Birth rate: 9.13 births/1000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate: 9.99 deaths/1000 population (2000 est.)

Net migration rate: 1.74 migrant(s)/1000 population (2000 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; inadequate industrial waste treatment and disposal facilities

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 5.92 deaths/1000 live births (2000 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

Total fertility rate: 1.18 children born/woman (2000 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

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name

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; Italy was not finally unified until 1870)

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

Constitution: 1 January 1948

Legal system: based on civil law system; appeals treated as new trials; 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

Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament or Parlamento consists of the Senate or Senato della Repubblica (315 seats elected by popular vote of which 232 are directly elected and 83 are elected by regional proportional representation plus in addition there are a small number of senators-for-life including former presidents of the republic; members serve five-year terms) and the Chamber of Deputies or Camera dei Deputati (630 seats; 475 are directly elected 155 by regional proportional representation; members serve five-year terms)

Judicial branch: Constitutional Court or Corte Costituzionale composed of 15 judges (one-third appointed by the president one-third elected by Parliament one-third elected by the ordinary and administrative supreme courts)

Political parties and leaders: Bonino List or LB (used to be the Autonomous List a group of minor parties) [Emma BONINO]; Center-Left Coalition (used to be the Olive Tree) [Massimo D'ALEMA] - Democrats DS FdV PdCI PPI RI UDEUR; Christian Democratic Center or CCD [Pier Ferdinando CASINI]; Christian Democratic Union or CDU [Rocco BUTTIGLIONE]; Communist Renewal or RC [Fausto BERTINOTTI]; Democratic Party [Arturo PARISI]; Democratic Party of the Left or DS [Walter VELTRONI]; Forza Italia or FI [Silvio BERLUSCONI]; Freedom Alliance (a center-right coalition) [leader Silvio BERLUSCONI] - FI AN CCD; Green Federation or FdV [Grazia FRANCESCATO]; Italian Communist Party or PdCI [Armando COSSUTA]; Italian Democratic Socialists or SDI [Enrico BOSSELLI]; Italian Popular Party or PPI [Pierluigi CASTAGNETTI]; Italian Renewal or RI [Lamberto DINI]; Italian Social Movement-Tricolored Flame or MSI-FT [Pino RAUTI]; National Alliance or AN [Gianfranco FINI]; Northern League-Padania or NL-Padania [Umberto BOSSI]; Radical Party (formerly Panella Reformers) [Marco PANELLA]; Republican Party or PR [Giorgio LA MALFA]; Southern Tyrols People's Party or SVP (German speakers) [Siegfried BRUGGER]; Union of Democrats for Europe or UDEUR [Clemente MASTELLA]; Union for the Republic or UPR [Francesco COSSIGA]

International organization participation: AfDB AsDB Australia Group BIS BSEC (observer) CCC CDB (non-regional) CE CEI CERN EAPC EBRD ECE ECLAC EIB EMU ESA EU FAO G- 7 G-10 IADB IAEA IBRD ICAO ICC ICFTU ICRM IDA IEA IFAD IFC IFRCS IHO ILO IMF IMO Inmarsat Intelsat Interpol IOC IOM ISO ITU LAIA (observer) MINURSO MONUC NAM (guest) NATO NEA NSG OAS (observer) OECD OPCW OSCE PCA UN UNCTAD UNESCO UNHCR UNIDO UNIFIL UNIKOM UNITAR UNMIBH UNMIK UNMOGIP UNTSO UPU WCL WEU WHO WIPO WMO WToO WTrO ZC

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 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: Italy has a diversified industrial economy with approximately the same total and per capita output as France and the UK. This capitalistic economy remains divided into a developed industrial north dominated by private companies and a less developed agricultural south with more than 20% unemployment. Most raw materials needed by industry and more than 75% of energy requirements are imported. For several years Italy has adopted budgets compliant with the requirements of the European Monetary Union (EMU); representatives of government labor and employers also agreed to an update of the 1993 'social pact' which has been widely credited with having brought Italy's inflation into conformity with EMU requirements. Italy must work to stimulate employment promote wage flexibility hold down the growth in pensions and tackle the informal economy. Growth was 1.3% in 1999 and should edge up to 2.6% in 2000 led by investment and exports.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: 1.3% (1999 est.)

Real gdp per capita: purchasing power parity - $21,400 (1999 est.)

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: fruits vegetables grapes potatoes sugar beets soybeans grain olives; beef dairy products; fish

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

Industrial production growth rate: 1.9% (1998 est.)

Labor force: 23.193 million
By occupation services: 61%
By occupation industry: 32%
By occupation agriculture: 7% (1996)

Unemployment rate: 11.5% (1999 est.)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line: NA%

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices: 1.7% (1999 est.)

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: $242.6 billion (f.o.b. 1998)
Commodities: engineering products textiles and clothing production machinery motor vehicles transport equipment chemicals; food beverages and tobacco; minerals and nonferrous metals
Partners: EU 56% (Germany 16.5% France 12.7% UK 7.2% Spain 5.8% Netherlands 2.9%) US 8.5% (1998)

Imports: $206.9 billion (f.o.b. 1998)
Commodities: engineering products chemicals transport equipment energy products minerals and nonferrous metals textiles and clothing; food beverages and tobacco
Partners: EU 61% (Germany 18.8% France 13.12% UK 6.47% Netherlands 6.2% Belgium-Luxembourg 4.7%) US 5.1% (1998)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external: $45 billion (1996 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: euros per US$1 - 0.9867 (January 2000) 0.9386 (1999); Italian lire (Lit) per US$1 - 1688.7 (January 1999) 1736.2 (1998) 1703.1 (1997) 1542.9 (1996) 1628.9 (1995)


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Electricity
Production: 243.027 billion kWh (1998)
Consumption: 266.705 billion kWh (1998)
Exports: 900 million kWh (1998)
Imports: 41.59 billion kWh (1998)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones
Main lines in use: 25 million (1998)
Mobile cellular: 17.7 million (1998)

Telephone system: modern well-developed fast; fully automated telephone telex and data services

Broadcast media

Internet
Service providers isps: 219 (1999)

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Dollar figure: $23.294 billion (FY99)
Percent of gdp: 1.7% (FY99)

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: 136 (1999 est.)

Heliports: 3 (1999 est.)

Pipelines: crude oil 1703 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

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international: Italy and Slovenia made progress in resolving bilateral issues; Croatia and Italy made progress toward resolving a bilateral issue dating from World War II over property and ethnic minority rights

Refugees and internally displaced persons

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