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.

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

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
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

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%

Population: 58,018,540 (July 1993 est.)
Growth rate: 0.2% (1993 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Italian(s)
Adjective: Italian

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:

Religions: Roman Catholic 100%

Population growth rate: 0.2% (1993 est.)

Birth rate: 10.65 births/1000 population (1993 est.)

Death rate: 9.66 deaths/1000 population (1993 est.)

Net migration rate: 1.03 migrant(s)/1000 population (1993 est.)

Environment
Current issues: regional risks include landslides, 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

Infant mortality rate: 7.8 deaths/1000 live births (1993 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 77.43 years
Male: 74.22 years
Female: 80.85 years (1993 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.37 children born/woman (1993 est.)

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

Country name
Conventional long form: Italian Republic
Conventional short form: Italy
Local long form: Repubblica Italiana
Local short form: Italia
Former: Kingdom of Italy

Government type: republic

Capital: Rome

Administrative divisions:

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

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

Executive branch: president, prime minister (president of the Council of Ministers)

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)

International organization participation:

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Boris BIANCHERI CHIAPPORI
In the us chancery: 1601 Fuller Street NW, Washington DC 20,009
In the us telephone: (202) 328-5,500
In the us consulates general:
In the us consulates: Detroit, New Orleans, and Newark (New Jersey)
From the us chief of mission: (vacant)
From the us embassy: Via Veneto 119/A, 00187, Rome
From the us mailing address: PSC 59, Box 100, APO AE 9,624
From the us telephone: 39 (6) 46,741
From the us fax: 39 (6) 488-2,672
From the us consulates general: Florence, Genoa, Milan, Naples, 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),

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 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. 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 Minister AMATO, the government adopted a fairly stringent budget for 1993, 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, who were forced to withdraw the lira from the European monetary system in September 1992 when it came under extreme pressure in currency markets, remain committed to bringing the currency back into the grid as soon as conditions warrant. 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.

Real gdp growth rate: 0.9% (1992)

Real gdp per capita: $17,500 (1992)

Agriculture products: accounts for about 4% of GDP and about 10% 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: growth rate -0.5% (1992 est.), accounts for almost 35% of GDP kWh per capita (1992)

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

Unemployment rate: 11% (1992 est.)

Budget: revenues $447 billion; expenditures $581 billion, including capital expenditures of $46 billion (1992 est.)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Exports: $168.8 million (f.o.b., 1991)
Commodoties: textiles, wearing apparel, metals, production machinery, motor vehicles, transportation equipment, chemicals, other
Partners: EC 58.3%, US 6.8%, OPEC 5.1% (1992)

Imports: $169.7 million (f.o.b., 1991)
Commodoties: petroleum, industrial machinery, chemicals, metals, food, agricultural products
Partners: EC 58.8%, OPEC 6.1%, US 5.5% (1992)

Exchange rates: Italian lire (Lit) per US$1 - 1,482.5 (January 1993), 1,232.4 (1992), 1,240.6 (1991), 1,198.1 (1990), 1,372.1 (1989), 1,301.6 (1988)

Military expenditures
Percent of gdp: exchange rate conversion - $24.5 billion, 2% of GDP (1992)

Airports: 137
Usable: 133
With permanentsurface runways: 92
With runways over 3659 m: 2
With runways 1220-2439 m: 39

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

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

Merchant marine:

Disputes international: small vocal minority in northern Italy seeks the return of parts of southwestern Slovenia

Illicit drugs: increasingly important gateway country for Latin American cocaine entering the European market