|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Resources Art, Cuisine, Famous Italians, Festivals, Folklore, Genealogy, Holidays, Hotels, Photos, Real Estate, Sports, Travel and More Guides Surname Collection Add your name to the collection. Recipes Authentic Italian recipes for you to enjoy. Photo Galleries Enjoy photos of Italy, wine making & more. Proverbi Proverbs in Italian & English. Our Paesani Weekly column dedicated to today's Italy. by Francesca Di Meglio Italian Memories Articles on growing up Italian. by Cookie Curci Una Mamma Italiana Articles for Italian mammas. by Tiffany Longo Learn Italian English-Italian guides Spanish-Italian guides. Molto Italiano Sign up for our FREE newsletter. Trivia Test your knowledge of Italy. |
Background: Italy became a nation-state in 1861 when the regional states of the peninsula, along with Sardinia and Sicily, were united under King Victor EMMANUEL II. An era of parliamentary government came to a close in the early 1920s when Benito MUSSOLINI established a Fascist dictatorship. His disastrous alliance with Nazi Germany led to Italy's defeat in World War II. A democratic republic replaced the monarchy in 1946 and economic revival followed. Italy was a charter member of NATO and the European Economic Community (EEC). It has been at the forefront of European economic and political unification, joining the Economic and Monetary Union in 1999. Persistent problems include illegal immigration, organized crime, corruption, high unemployment, sluggish economic growth, and the low incomes and technical standards of southern Italy compared with the prosperous north.
Location: Southern Europe, a peninsula extending into the central Mediterranean Sea, northeast of Tunisia Geographic coordinates: 42 50 N, 12 50 E Map references: Europe
Area:
Areacomparative: 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 extremes:
Natural resources: coal, mercury, zinc, potash, marble, barite, asbestos, pumice, fluorospar, feldspar, pyrite (sulfur), natural gas and crude oil reserves, fish, arable land
Land use:
Irrigated land: 27,500 sq km (2003) Natural hazards: regional risks include landslides, mudflows, avalanches, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flooding; land subsidence in Venice Environmentcurrent 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
Environmentinternational agreements:
Geographynote: strategic location dominating central Mediterranean as well as southern sea and air approaches to Western Europe
Population: 58,133,509 (July 2006 est.)
Age structure:
Median age:
Population growth rate: 0.04% (2006 est.) Birth rate: 8.72 births/1,000 population (2006 est.) Death rate: 10.4 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.) Net migration rate: 2.06 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Sex ratio:
Infant mortality rate:
Life expectancy at birth:
Total fertility rate: 1.28 children born/woman (2006 est.) HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.5% (2001 est.) HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 140,000 (2001 est.) HIV/AIDS - deaths: less than 1,000 (2003 est.)
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) Religions: approximately 90% Roman Catholic (about one-third regularly attend services); mature Protestant and Jewish communities and a growing Muslim immigrant community 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)
Literacy:
Country name:
Government type: republic Capital: Rome Administrative divisions: 15 regions (regioni, singular - regione) and 5 autonomous regions* (regioni autonome, singular - regione autonoma); Abruzzo, 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 Independence: 17 March 1861 (Kingdom of Italy proclaimed; Italy was not finally unified until 1870) National holiday: Republic Day, 2 June (1946) Constitution: passed 11 December 1947; effective 1 January 1948; amended many times 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 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 proportional vote with the winning coalition in each region receiving 55% of seats from that region; members serve five-year terms) and the Chamber of Deputies or Camera dei Deputati (630 seats; elected by popular vote with the winning national coalition receiving 54% of chamber seats; members serve five-year terms); note - electoral vote reform passed in December 2005
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:
Center-Left Union Coalition [Romano PRODI]: Ulivo Alliance (including Democrats of the Left or DS [Piero FASSINO]; Daisy-Democracy is Freedom or DL [Francesco RUTELLI]); Rose in the Fist (including Italian Social Democrats or SDI [Enrico BOSELLI]; Italian Radical Party [Emma BONINO]); Italian Communist Party or PdCI [Oliviero DILIBERTO]; Green Federation [Alfonso PECORARO SCANIO]; Communist Renewal or RC [Fausto BERTINOTTI]; Italy of Values or IdV [Antonio DI PIETRO]; Union of Democrats for Europe or UDEUR [Clemente MASTELLA]; Republican European Movement or MRE [Luciana SBARBATI]
Political pressure groups and leaders: Italian manufacturers and merchants associations (Confindustria, Confcommercio); organized farm groups (Confcoltivatori, Confagricoltura); Roman Catholic Church; three major trade union confederations (Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro or CGIL [Guglielmo EPIFANI] which is left wing, Confederazione Italiana dei Sindacati Lavoratori or CISL [Savino PEZZOTTA], which is Roman Catholic centrist, and Unione Italiana del Lavoro or UIL [Luigi ANGELETTI] which is lay centrist) International organization participation: AfDB, AsDB, Australia Group, BIS, BSEC (observer), CBSS (observer), CDB, CE, CEI, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, G- 7, G- 8, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITU, LAIA (observer), MIGA, MINURSO, NAM (guest), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, Paris Club, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNMEE, UNMIS, UNMOGIP, UNTSO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO, ZC
Diplomatic representation in the US:
Diplomatic representation from the US:
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
Economyoverview: Italy has a diversified industrial economy with roughly 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, welfare-dependent, agricultural south, with 20% unemployment. Most raw materials needed by industry and more than 75% of energy requirements are imported. Over the past decade, Italy has pursued a tight fiscal policy in order to meet the requirements of the Economic and Monetary Unions and has benefited from lower interest and inflation rates. The current government has enacted numerous short-term reforms aimed at improving competitiveness and long-term growth. Italy has moved slowly, however, on implementing needed structural reforms, such as lightening the high tax burden and overhauling Italy's rigid labor market and over-generous pension system, because of the current economic slowdown and opposition from labor unions. But the leadership faces a severe economic constraint: the budget deficit has breached the 3% EU ceiling. The economy experienced almost no growth in 2005, and unemployment remained at a high level. GDP: purchasing power parity - $1.698 trillion (2005 est.) GDP (official exchange rate): $1.71 trillion (2005 est.) GDP real growth rate: 0.1% (2005 est.) GDP per capita (PPP): $29,200 (2005 est.)
GDP composition by sector:
Unemployment rate: 7.7% (2005 est.) Population below poverty line: NA
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
Distribution of family income Gini index: 36 (2000) Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2% (2005 est.) Investment (gross fixed): 20.6% of GDP (2005 est.)
Budget:
Public debt: 108.8% of GDP (2005 est.) 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% (2005 est.) Electricity production: 270.1 billion kWh (2003)
Electricity production by source:
Electricity consumption: 302.2 billion kWh (2003) Electricity - exports: 500 million kWh (2003) Electricity - imports: 51.5 billion kWh (2003) Oil - production: 136,200 bbl/day (2003 est.) Oil - consumption: 1.874 million bbl/day (2003 est.) Oil - exports: 456,600 bbl/day (2001) Oil - imports: 2.158 million bbl/day (2001) Oil - proved reserves: 586.6 million bbl (1 January 2002)
Natural gas production: 13.55 billion cu m (2003 est.)
Natural gas consumption: 76.88 billion cu m (2003 est.)
Natural gas exports: 61 million cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - imports: 54.78 billion cu m (2001 est.) Natural gas - proved reserves: 226.5 billion cu m (1 January 2002) Current account balance: $-26.38 billion (2005 est.) Exports: $371.9 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.) Export - commodities: engineering products, textiles and clothing, production machinery, motor vehicles, transport equipment, chemicals; food, beverages and tobacco; minerals, and nonferrous metals Export - partners: Germany 13.2%, France 12.1%, US 8%, Spain 7.3%, UK 6.5%, Switzerland 4% (2005) Imports: $369.2 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.) Import - commodities: engineering products, chemicals, transport equipment, energy products, minerals and nonferrous metals, textiles and clothing; food, beverages, and tobacco Import - partners: Germany 17.1%, France 9.9%, Netherlands 5.7%, China 4.6%, Belgium 4.5%, Spain 4.2%, UK 4% (2005) Reserves of foreign exchange & gold: $65.95 billion (2005 est.) Debtexternal: $922.5 billion (2005 est.) Economic aid - donor: ODA, $1 billion (2002 est.)
Currency:
Currency code: EUR Exchange rates: euros per US dollar - 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004), 0.886 (2003), 1.0626 (2002), 1.1175 (2001) Fiscal year: calendar year
Telephones - main lines in use: 25.957 million (2004) Telephones - mobile cellular: 62.75 million (2004)
Telephone system:
Radio broadcast stations: AM about 100, FM about 4,600, shortwave 9 (1998) Radios: 50.5 million (1997) Television broadcast stations: 358 (plus 4,728 repeaters) (1995) Televisions: 30.3 million (1997) Internet country code: .it Internet hosts: 1,246,253 (2005) Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 93 (Italy and Holy See) (2000) Internet users: 28.87 million (2005)
Airports: 135 (2005)
Airportswith paved runways:
Airportswith unpaved runways:
Heliports: 3 (2005) Pipelines: gas 17,335 km; oil 1,136 km (2004)
Railways:
Roadways:
Waterways: 2,400 km note: used for commercial traffic; of limited overall value compared to road and rail (2004)
Merchant marine:
Ports and terminals: Augusta, Genoa, Livorno, Melilli Oil Terminal, Ravenna, Taranto, Trieste, Venice
Military branches: Army (Esercito Italiano, EI), Navy (Marina Militare Italiana, MMI), Air Force (Aeronautica Militare Italiana, AMI), Carabinieri Corps (Corpo dei Carabinieri, CC) (2005) Military service age and obligation: voluntary military service; conscription abolished January 2005 (2006)
Manpower available for military service:
Manpower fit for military service:
Manpower reaching military service age annually:
Military expenditures - dollar figure: $28,182.8 million (2003) Military expenditurespercent of GDP: 1.8% (2004)
Disputesinternational: Italy's long coastline and developed economy entices tens of thousands of illegal immigrants from southeastern Europe and northern Africa Illicit drugs: important gateway for and consumer of Latin American cocaine and Southwest Asian heroin entering the European market; money laundering by organized crime and from smuggling
|
![]() Buy Now on Etsy ![]() Buy Now Partner Links
Shops/Stores
Italiansrus Gear
![]()
FORZIERI.com
|
| Home
| Email
| Forum
| Newsletter |
Copyright © 1998-2025 Anthony Parente. All rights reserved.