Country Facts - Italy

The People

Nationality Italian

Ethnic Composition

Caucasian (southern European)	99%
Other	1%

Religious Composition

Roman Catholic	98%
Other and nonaffiliated	2%

Languages Spoken

Italian (official), German, French, Slovene

Education and Literacy

Education is state-funded and compulsory between the ages of 6 and 14. The adult literacy rate is 98 percent.

Labor Force

Total: 23.6 million (2001)

By occupation:

Services	63%
Industry	32%
Agriculture	5%

Geography

Land Mass Total

116,305 sq mi (301,230 sq km)
Note: Includes Sardinia and Sicily

Land

113,521 sq mi (294,020 sq km)

Water

2,783 sq mi (7,210 sq km)

Land Boundaries

Total: 1,200 mi (1,932.2 km)
Border countries: Austria 267 mi (430 km), France 303 mi (488 km), Holy See (Vatican City) 1 mi (3.2 km), San Marino 24 mi (39 km), Slovenia 144 mi (232 km), Switzerland 459 mi (740 km)

Coastline

4,722 mi (7,600 km)

Maritime claim

Continental shelf: 656 ft (200 m) depth or to the depth of exploitation
Territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate/Weather

Predominantly Mediterranean; alpine in far north; hot, dry in south.

Terrain

Mostly rugged and mountainous; some plains, coastal lowlands.

Elevation extremes

lowest point: Mediterranean Sea 0 ft (0 m)
highest point: Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco) de Courmayeur 15,577 ft (4,748 m)
(a secondary peak of Mont Blanc).

Natural Resources

Mercury, potash, marble, sulfur, dwindling natural gas and crude oil reserves, fish, coal, arable land

Land use

Arable land	28%
Permanent crops	9%
Other	63%

(1998)

Natural hazards

Regional risks include landslides, mudflows, avalanches, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flooding; land subsidence in Venice.

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.

Geography Note

Strategic location dominating central Mediterranean as well as southern sea and air approaches to Western Europe.

Demographics

Population

57,715,625 (July 2002)

Age structure

0-14 years:	14.1%	Male: 4,198,569	Female: 3,954,159
15-64 years:	67.3%	Male: 19,334,208	Female: 19,492,048
65 years and over:	18.6%	Male: 4,436,073	Female: 6,300,568)

(2002)

Growth Rate

0.05% (2002)

Life Expectancy

79.25 years (2002)
Female: 82.63 years
Male: 76.08 years

GDP Per Capita

Purchasing power parity
US$24,300 (2001)

Infant Mortality

5.76 deaths/1,000 live births (2002)

Sex ratio

At birth:	1.07 male(s)/female
Under 15 years:	1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years:	0.99 male(s)/female
65 years and over:	0.7 male(s)/female
Total population:	0.94 male(s)/female

(2002)

Net migration rate

1.73 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002)

Economy & Trade

Italy has a diversified industrial economy with roughly the same total and per capita output as France and the U.K. This capitalistic economy remains divided into a developed industrial north, dominated by private companies, and a less developed agricultural south, with 20 percent unemployment. Most raw materials needed by industry and more than 75 percent of energy requirements are imported. Over the past decade, Italy has pursued a tight fiscal policy in order to meet the requirements of the E.U. and has benefited from lower interest and inflation rates. Italy's economic performance has lagged behind that of its E.U. partners, and the current government has enacted numerous short-term reforms aimed at improving competitiveness and long-term growth. Rome has moved slowly, however, on implementing needed structural reforms, such as lightening the high tax burden and overhauling Italy's rigid labor market and expensive pension system, because of the current economic slowdown and opposition from labor unions.
Privatization of state-owned business has been a stated goal of the Berlusconi government, and his Minister of the Economy, Giulio Tremonti, promised a "very ambitious" scheme in early 2003 that would supposedly raise US$20 billion through state sell-offs within the year. The move is expected to face severe opposition from government unions who are unwilling to give up their sumptuous benefits. Added to these woes, the economy also has significant "gray" and "black" market sectors, which together account for almost 25 percent of GDP, pointing to a major loss in tax revenues.

Unemployment

10% (2001)

Inflation Rate

2.7% (2001)

Industries

Tourism, machinery, iron and steel, chemicals, food processing, textiles, motor vehicles, clothing, footwear, ceramics

Exports

US$243 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

Imports

US$226 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

Total Trade

Purchasing power parity
GDP US$1.402 trillion (2001)

Top Export Partners

EU 54.9% (Germany 15.1%, France 12.6%, UK 6.9%, Spain 6.2%), US 10.4% (2000)

Top Import Partners

EU 56.3% (Germany 17.5%, France 11.4%, Netherlands 5.9%, UK 5.4%), US 5.3% (2000)

Top Exports

Engineering products, textiles and clothing, production machinery, motor vehicles, transport equipment, chemicals; food, beverages and tobacco; minerals and nonferrous metals

Top Imports

Engineering products, chemicals, transport equipment, energy products, minerals and nonferrous metals, textiles and clothing; food, beverages and tobacco

Debt - external

US$45 billion (1996)

Economic aid

ODA, $1 billion (2002)

Fiscal Year:

Calendar year

Business Workweek

	Monday - Friday	Saturday - Sunday
Offices	8:30a.m. to 12:30p.m. and 3:30p.m. to 7:30p.m. Some Italian firms take two-hours for lunch.	Closed
Retail	10a.m. to 6p.m. Large department stores and retailers may stay open later in urban areas.	Slightly shorter hours over the weekend.
Banks	8:30a.m. to 1:30p.m. and 3p.m. to 4:30p.m.	Closed
Government	8:30a.m. to 1:30p.m. and 2:30p.m. to 3:30p.m.	Closed

Note: Most businesses that do not cater to the tourist trade close down in August for vacation.

Holidays

Official Holidays

Holidays	2003	2004	2005
New Year's Day	January 1	January 1	January 1
Epiphany	January 6	January 6	January 6
Easter¹	April 20	April 11	March 27
Easter Monday	April 21	April 12	March 28
Liberation Day	April 25	April 25	April 25
Labor Day	May 1	May1	May 1
Ascension²	May 29	May 20	May 6
Anniversary of the Republic	June 2	June 2	June 2
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary	August 15	August 15	August 15
All Saints Day	November 1	November 1	November 1
National Unity Day	November 4	November 4	November 4
Immaculate Conception	December 8	December 8	December 8
Christmas Day³	December 25	December 25	December 25
St. Stephen's Day	December 26	December 26	December 26

¹	Easter, a Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the first Sunday after the full moon and the vernal equinox (fixed in the Gregorian calendar at March 21), and often observed with Good Friday and Easter Monday. In the West, Easter is predicted using the Gregorian calendar, while Eastern Orthodox Christians use the much older Julian calendar, and celebrate 13 days later.
²	The feast of Ascension takes place 40 days after Easter in both the Christian and Orthodox faiths and celebrates the ascent of Christ into Heaven.
³	Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. In A.D.320, Pope Julius I fixed the date at December 25 based on the Gregorian calendar. The Orthodox church calculates Christmas using the Julian calendar and celebrates 13 days later on January 7.

Country information used by permission of World Trade Press