Italy demographics

Italy demographics

This entry provides Italy demographics according to age. Information is included by sex and age group as follows: 0-14 years (children), 15-24 years (early working age), 25-54 years (prime working age), 55-64 years (mature working age), 65 years and over (elderly). The age structure of a population affects a nation’s key socioeconomic issues. Countries with young populations (high percentage under age 15) need to invest more in schools, while countries with older populations (high percentage ages 65 and over) need to invest more in the health sector. The age structure can also be used to help predict potential political issues. For example, the rapid growth of a young adult population unable to find employment can lead to unrest.

Sex ratio (2016 est.)

 Age structure (2017 est.)

Population Pyramid

A population pyramid illustrates the age and sex structure of a country’s population and may provide insights about political and social stability, as well as economic development. The population is distributed along the horizontal axis, with males shown on the left and females on the right. The male and female populations are broken down into 5-year age groups represented as horizontal bars along the vertical axis, with the youngest age groups at the bottom and the oldest at the top. The shape of the population pyramid gradually evolves over time based on fertility, mortality, and international migration trends.

Dependency ratios (2015 est.)

Median age (2017 est.)

Infant mortality rate (2017 est.)

Drinking water source (2015 est.)

Life expectancy at birth (2017 est.)

Demographic trends

Throughout the centuries, Italy’s population curve has undergone many changes, often in parallel development with population trends in other European countries. The mid-14th-century plague reduced the peninsula’s population considerably, and a long period of population growth ended at the beginning of the 17th century. From the early 18th century until unification in the 1860s, a slight, steady growth prevailed, although it was interrupted during the Napoleonic Wars. From the latter half of the 19th century to the latter half of the 20th century, the population more than doubled, despite high levels of emigration. Interestingly, the natural population increase was frequently highest during the decades of highest emigration, although there is no obvious causal relationship between the two.

altogether Italy demographics  trends are still fairly consistent with those of other advanced western European countries, which experienced declining fertility and mortality rates following World War II. The growth rate of the population is gradually slowing, with most of the increase coming from immigration; birth rates and death rates are virtually identical. However, the national figures conceal contrasting regional trends. In general, the birth rate and average family size are higher in the south of Italy than in the north, although populations in Molise, Basilicata, and Calabria are declining through continued emigration. The mortality rate is slightly lower in the south than in the north as a result of improved medical care and a younger population; in certain northern regions, especially Liguria, populations are decreasing because the birth rate is falling faster than the mortality rate. For the country as a whole, life expectancy rose during the second half of the 20th century, reflecting higher nutritional, sanitary, and medical standards.

Internal migration patterns

Since the unification of Italy in the mid-19th century, internal movements have followed a regular pattern—south to north and east to west. People have moved from the southern regions and Sicily to the central regions of Lazio and Tuscany and to the northwest—to Lombardy, Liguria, and Piedmont. They moved in the same way from Veneto to the northwest. Movement from Emilia-Romagna, Marche, and Umbria to regions in the northwest has also been significant. Population movement was relatively slight during the fascist era between the wars, when permits were required for movement inside the country. Exceptionally, substantial numbers of Italians seeking work at the huge Lingotto vehicle factory run by Fiat were granted permits to go to Turin.

After World War II and the demise of fascism, Italy entered a period of unprecedented economic growth and high population mobility. The prosperity of the urban areas, especially the industrial triangle of Lombardy-Piedmont-Liguria, contrasted with continuing hardship and poverty in the upland and rural areas, especially in the south. Rapid industrialization in the urban centers acted as a strong “pull” factor, encouraging rural workers to abandon the land and head for the cities. The disparity of wealth and of employment between urban and rural areas triggered a period of intense rural depopulation from the uplands in the Alps, the Apennines, Sicily, and Calabria and an influx of migrants to Rome, Milan, Turin, and Genoa. This movement continues today, although the slowing of economic growth has reduced the “pull” exerted by the industrial areas. Unemployment runs high, especially among the young.

Emigration and immigration

In nearly a century between 1876 and 1970, an estimated 25 million Italians left the country in search of work. Of those, 12 million left for destinations outside Europe. In the 1860s, transatlantic migration was most frequent among northern Italians and was often associated with certain trades; for example, farmers, artists, and street traders tended to emigrate to the United States. Two decades later, however, the trend had become a mass phenomenon, with the main migrants increasingly emanating from the south. Their principal destination was the United States, favored by more than half the emigrants, the others choosing Argentina, Brazil, and Canada. Some also went to Australia. In the 1920s the United States introduced strict immigration laws, and economic conditions in Brazil and Argentina deteriorated so much that transatlantic emigration was stymied. In addition, the fascist regime opposed emigration, and during World War II emigration halted almost completely. After 1945 destinations were mainly European, the most popular being France initially and then West Germany and Switzerland. During that period the nature of emigration patterns changed, becoming less stable. In many cases the emigrants were mostly male, as some European countries refused entry to workers’ relatives because of housing shortages. Often Italian workers would remain abroad for short periods of time, returning every so often to Italy. On the eve of the 1973 oil embargo, more than 850,000 Italians were working in Switzerland and countries of the European Economic Community (EEC; later succeeded by the European Union [EU]), where the ensuing recession and rising unemployment forced many Italians back home.

In 1972 Italy for the first time registered more people entering the country than leaving, in part because of repatriation but also as a result of immigration from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. For several years the scale of the influx of non-European immigrants was difficult to assess, as no policy existed either to measure or to control it until the mid-1980s. The collapse of communist regimes in eastern Europe brought fresh waves of immigrants from Poland, Romania, Albania, and the Yugoslav region. Many arrived via seaports on the Adriatic coast, claiming refugee status. Some were repatriated, but others were relocated to inland destinations. An ongoing difficulty is the flow of illegal immigrants from Albania. In 2017 there were about five million foreigners in Italy, more than two-thirds of whom were from non-EU countries. The majority of new arrivals settled in the north and center of Italy, and the south had a relatively higher proportion of African and North American immigrants than the north.

Languages of Italy demographics

Languages and regional varieties in Italy demographics.

Italy’s official language is Italian. Ethnologue has estimated that there are about 55 million speakers of the language in Italy and a further 6.7 million outside of the country. However, between 120 and 150 million people use Italian as a second or cultural language, worldwide.

Italian, adopted by the state after the unification of Italy, is based on the Florentine variety of Tuscan and is somewhat intermediate between the Italo-Dalmatian languages and the Gallo-Romance languages. Its development was also influenced by the Germanic languages of the post-Roman invaders.

Italy has numerous dialects spoken all over the country. However, the establishment of a national education system has led to decrease in variation in the languages spoken across the country. Standardisation was further expanded in the 1950s and 1960s thanks to economic growth and the rise of mass media and television (the state broadcaster RAI helped set a standard Italian).

Several minority and regional languages are legally recognized and protected, and they have co-official status alongside Italian in various parts of the country. French is co-official in the Valle d’Aosta—although in fact Franco-Provencal is more commonly spoken there. German has the same status in the province of South Tyrol as, in some parts of that province and in parts of the neighbouring Trentino, does Ladin. Slovene and Friulian are officially recognised in the provinces of Trieste, Gorizia and Udine in Venezia Giulia. Sardinian language was recognized as co-official in Sardinia.

In these regions official documents are bilingual (trilingual in Ladin communities), or available upon request in either Italian or the co-official language. Traffic signs are also multilingual, except in the Valle d’Aosta where—with the exception of Aosta itself which has retained its Latin form in Italian as in English—French toponyms are generally used, attempts to Italianise them during the Fascist period having been abandoned. Education is possible in minority languages where such schools are operating.

The Religious Of Italy Demographics

Italy is among Europe’s most developed countries covering an estimated area of 116,347 square miles. Italy shares its borders with Austria, France, San Marino Vatican City, and Slovenia. It is ranked 3rd by EU as the most populous country in Europe with a population of 61 million. Po Valley is the most populated area in Italy accounting for over 50% of the total population. while Sardinia Island and the Basilicata Plateau are the least populated areas. Internal migration is very common in Italy with majority moving from rural areas in the south to urban cities in the north. Italy has no state recognized or official religion however Catholic Church plays a significant role in the society. Some of the common religions in Italy include Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, and Judaism.

Major Religions In Italy  Demographics

Christianity

71.4% of Italians ascribe to Christianity making it the dominant religion in the country with Catholicism being the majority Christian denomination. Other Christian denominations include Orthodox, Jehovah’s Witness, Protestant, and Methodists. The Catholic Church accounts for 93% of all Christians in Italy. Vatican City, which is the headquarters of over one billion Catholics worldwide, is within the territory of Italy and has a massive influence on the growth of Catholic Church in Italy. Most of the Catholic religious orders have their offices in Italy, specifically Rome. These orders include Benedictines, Jesuits, Dominicans, Redemptorists, Silesians, Franciscans, and Divine Word Missionaries. Italy is divided into 225 Dioceses headed by bishops. Apart from the Catholic Church, there are other native churches, and these are Italo-Albanian Catholic Church and Waldensian Evangelical Church which originated from Lyon in France forming a Calvinist denomination. Some of the Protestant churches in Italy include Baptist Evangelical Christian Union of Italy, Lutheran Evangelical Church, Methodist Church, and Presbyterian Church in Italy.

Islam

Islam does not command a huge following as Christianity in Italy and is not recognized by the state. Only 3.1% of the population in Italy demographics confesses Islam faith. Islam is thought to have been brought into Italy when the Abbasid Caliphate took control of Sicily in the 9th Century. The Norman Conquest led to the conversion of Muslims leading to their decline in Italy. In the 20th Century, Somali Immigrants started arriving in Italy, and the immigration has continued to date. Muslims have had issues with the presence of Crucifix in public places demanding their removal.

Buddhism

Buddhists in Italy demographics account for only 0.4% of the total population. Buddhism in Italy can be traced back to 1960s when Buddhists Italian Association was founded. In 1985 Italian Buddhist was formed in Milan with the president recognizing the union in 1991. The agreement between the IBU and the Italian government was signed in 2007 by the Italian constitution while the agreement became law in 2012.

Other Religions in Italy demographics

Only 0.6% of Italy demographics ascribe to other religions such as Hinduism, Sikhism, and Judaism while the rest of the population either ascribe to other faiths or are not affiliated with any religion. With the current rate of immigration, Italy will experience an increase in the number of Muslims coming into the country. Other religions such as Orthodox Christianity are already establishing themselves in the country. Jehovah’s Witnesses, another Christian sect, are also relative newcomers to Italy, and a denomination that is quickly rising there with a popular following of 420,000. Christian immigrants are also pushing up the number of Christians in Italy.

References:

1. britannica
2. indexmundi
3. worldatlas