Italy Facts and Figures

Republic of Italy
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Area	116,340 square miles - 301,000 sq. Km
Population (1998)	57,700,000 15% less then 15 yrs. old 68% between ages 15 and 65 17% Older then 65 yrs. old 71% urban, 29% rural 488 Persons per sq. mile - 189 Persons per sq. Km Ethnic Groups: Italian, small minorities of German. French, Slovene, Albanian, Greek
Language	Italian (official), small sections speak German or Slovene
Capital and Major Cities (Pop.1997)	Rome (2,700,000) Milan (4,250,000) Naples (3,010,000) Turin (1,295,000)
Currency	1 lira (Lit) = 100 centesimi 1 Euro = Lit 1,936 1 Euro = US$ 0.9004 (May 16, 2000) CLICK HERE FOR BLOOMBERG CURRENCY MARKETS
Gross Domestic Product (GDP 1994)	$1.09 trill. GDP Per capita: $18,700 agriculture 9%; industry and commerce 32%; services 59%. Imports: 108 bill. - Partners: EU 56%, U.S. 5%. Exports: $191 bill. - Partners: EU 53%, US 8% Tourism: $24 bill. National budget (est.): $431 bill. CPI: change in 1996 - 4.0%
Religion	Rom. Catholic (98% of the Population)
Education & Health
Literacy (1994)	Education: Free and compulsory: ages 6-13 Literacy: 98% of adult population
Universities (1995)	42
Life Expectancy (1997) at Birth:	Life Exp.: F-81.6, M-75 Births: (per 1,000 pop.): 10 Deaths: (per 1,000 pop.):10 Natural Increase: 0.0.
Health:	Hospital beds: 1 per 147 persons. Physicians: 1 per 193 persons Infant mortality: (per 1,000 in births 1997): 7
Government
Form of Government:	Parliamentary Republic
Head of State:	President (Elected to a seven-year term by legislators and representatives of regional councils) Current President: Carlo Azeglio Ciampi elections: president elected by an electoral college consisting of both houses of Parliament and 58 regional representatives for a seven-year term; election last held June 1999
Head of Government:	Prime Minister (Appointed by the president and confirmed by parliament.) Current Prime Minister: (referred to in Italy as the president of the Council of Ministers) Silvio Berlusconi (since June 10, 2001, he was re-elected on April 23, 2005)
Cabinet:	Council of Ministers nominated by the prime minister and approved by the president
Legislature:	Bicameral Legislature or "Parlamento" consists of the Senate or "Senato" (326 seats—315 elected by popular vote of which 232 are directly elected and 83 are elected by regional proportional representation, 11 are appointed senators-for-life; members serve five-year terms) elections Chamber of Deputies or "Camera dei Deputati" (630 seats; 475 are directly elected, 155 by regional proportional representation; members serve five-year terms) *elections:*
Political parties and leaders:	Center-Left Olive Tree Coalition [Francesco RUTELLI] - Democrats of the Left, Daisy Alliance (including Italian Popular Party, Italian Renewal, Union of Democrats for Europe, The Democrats), Sunflower Alliance (including Green Federation, Italian Democratic Socialists), Italian Communist Party; Christian Democratic Center or CDC [Pier Ferdinando CASINI]; Christian Democratic Union or CDU [Rocco BUTTIGLIONE]; Communist Renewal or RC [Fausto BERTINOTTI]; Forza Italia or FI [Silvio BERLUSCONI]; Green Federation [Grazia FRANCESCATO]; House of Liberties (formerly Freedom Alliance, a center-right coalition) [leader Silvio BERLUSCONI] - Forza Italian, National Alliance, Christian Democratic Center, Christian Democratic Union, Northern League; Italian Communist Party or PdCI [Oliviero DILIBERTO]; Italian Democratic Socialists [Enrico BOSELLI]; Italian Popular Party [Pierluigi CASTAGNETTI]; Italian Renewal [Lamberto DINI]; Italian Social Movement-Tricolored Flame or MSI-FI [Pino RAUTI]; National Alliance or AN [Gianfranco FINI]; Northern League or NL [Umberto BOSSI]; Radical Party (formerly Panella Reformers and Autonomous List) [Marco PANNELLA]; Southern Tyrols People's Party or SVP (German speakers) [Siegfried BRUGGER]; Union of Democrats for Europe [Clemente MASTELLA]; The Democrats [Arturo PARISI] Source: CIA Fact Book on Italy
Political Pressure Groups and Leaders:	The Roman Catholic Church; three major trade union confederations (Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro or CGIL [Sergio COFFERATI] which is left wing, Confederazione Italiana dei Sindacati Lavoratori or CISL [Sergio D'ANTONI] which is Catholic centrist, and Unione Italiana del Lavoro or UIL [Pietro LARIZZA] which is lay centrist); Italian manufacturers and merchants associations (Confindustria, Confcommercio); organized farm groups (Confcoltivatori, Confagricoltura)
Voting Qualifications:	Universal suffrage for all citizens age 18 and older
Judicial branch Highest Court:	Constitutional Court Supreme Court of Cassation 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)
Armed Services:	325,000 troops; Army, Navy, Air Force (men 18 years old and older must serve for 12 months)
Political Divisions:	20 regions with, some autonomy, divided into 95 provinces.
Economy, Transportation & Communication
Economy:	Industries. Tourism, steel, machinery, autos, textiles, shoes, clothing, chemicals. Chief crops: Grapes, olives, citrus fruits, vegetables, wheat Minerals: Mercury, Potash, Sulfur, Crude oil reserves (1996) 685 mil bblis. Livestock (1996) sheep: 10.5 mil; pigs: 8.0 mil; cattle: 7.0 mil; goats: 1.5 mil; Fish catch (1995): 609,000 metric tons. Electricity prod. (1995): 225 bill. kWh. Labor Force: 58% services, 32% industrial, 10% agriculture
Transportation:	Railroads: Length. 11,774.8 mi. Motor Vehicles: in use 30.0 mil Passenger cars, 2.8 mil comm. vehicles Civil Aviation: 19.7 bill. passenger-mi.; 31 airports. Chief Ports: Genoa, Venice, Trieste, Palermo, Naples. La Spezia
Communications:	Television sets: 1per 2.3 persons Radios: 1 per 1.2 persons Telephones: 1 per 2.3 persons Daily newspaper circ.: 105 per 1,000 population
Organizations and Agencies
Major 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, MTCR, NAM (guest), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNIKOM, UNITAR, UNMIBH, UNMOGIP, UNTSO, UPU, WCL, WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC
Major Islands
Sicily:	9,928 sq. mi., pop. (1994 est.) 5,025,000. The island lies in the Mediterranean and has a dimension of 180 by 120 mi., seat of a region that embraces the island of Pantelieria, 32 sq. mi., and the Lipari group, 44 sq. mi., Including 2 active volcanoes: Volcano, 1,637 ft, and Stromboli, 3,038 ft. From prehistoric times Sicily has been settled by various peoples; a Greek state had its capital at Syracuse. Sicily was taken by Rome from Carthage in 215 BC. Mt. Etna, an 11,053-ft. active volcano, is its tallest peak
Sardinia:	9,301 sq. mi., pop. (1994 est.) 1,657,000. The island of Sardinia lies in the Mediterranean, 115 mi. W of Italy and 7 1/2 mi. S of Corsica. It Is 160 mi. long, 68 mi. wide, and mountainous, with mining Of coal, zinc Rod and copper. In 1720 Sardinia was added to the possessions of the Dukes of Savoy in Piedmont and Savoy to form the Kingdom of Sardinia. Giuseppe Garibaldi is buried on the nearby isle of Caprera.
Elba:	86 sq. mi., lies 6 miles West of Tuscany. Napoleon I lived in exile on Elba 1814-1815.