High density and an aging population
In 2022, 58,983,122 people resided in Italy, according to Istat, the Italian National Institute of Statistics. The population density (195 inhabitants/km²) is one of the highest in Europe and the population is mainly urban. Not surprisingly, the most populous cities in the country are Rome (2,746,896 inhabitants in 2022) and Milan (1,353,718 inhabitants in 2022), which are the only ones to have more than a million inhabitants. Naples is the third, with 914,406 inhabitants in 2022. The Italian urban network is made up of a large number of medium-sized cities such as Bologna, Genoa and Florence. Depending on the region and the local geography, the differences in density are increasing in the country. For example, Sardinia, which is rather rural, has a density of 68 inhabitants/km², while Lombardy has a density of 418 inhabitants/km². Despite this rather high density, the country is nevertheless affected by a major demographic crisis, which has been making the headlines lately: the number of births is in free fall. The birth rate in Italy is the lowest in Europe and one of the lowest in the world. The country is concerned about this and, in an attempt to encourage families to expand, has recently proposed financial aid. Because it is a fact, the country is aging: in a decade, the average age in Italy has increased from 43 years in 2011 to 46 years today! Liguria, in the northwest of the country, has the oldest population, with an average age of 49.4 years. While life expectancy in Italy is excellent, 82.4 years at birth (79.7 years for men and 85.2 years for women), the Italian population is declining, and this demographic decline has accelerated since the Covid-19 pandemic. Between 2021 and 2022, the country lost 253,000 inhabitants, the equivalent of the city of Venice. The economic crisis and the lack of certainty of young people regarding their future are also contributing factors. In addition to this birth deficit, Italy's population is also decreasing every year due to the departure of many young graduates who decide to start or continue their professional life abroad. This trend has a name: the " fuga dei cervelli " (the brain drain). In order to convince its expatriates to return to the country, Italy has recently taken advantageous tax measures for them.
Migration flows
Migration flows, both internal and external, have always been numerous in the country. The Italian diaspora is large all over the world and, according to AIRE (the register of Italians abroad), there are almost 6 million Italians living abroad today. In its own territory, Italy has also experienced numerous internal movements since the 1960s. Although the country was going through a very prosperous economic period at the time, the gap between the North and the South was still growing. While many Italians from the south had already left the country, going to the United States or France, others decided to move to the north to find work in the industrial triangle formed by the cities of Turin, Genoa and Milan. Between 1951 and 1961, the number of southern Italians who came to try their luck in the north was estimated at 2 million, including 600,000 in Milan. The latter were victims of racism on a daily basis: they were called terroni ("earthy asses") and their social integration and access to housing were particularly difficult. The Lombardy population is the result of this population movement, and many Milanese families have Calabrian, Neapolitan or Sicilian origins. Since unemployment is higher in the south, many young people from the south still decide to move to the north because of professional necessity. However, the development of teleworking during the pandemic has revitalized the south of the country, which is welcoming more and more young workers.
Italy has also become, because of its geographical position, a gateway to Europe for many migrants who land on its shores. It is one of the main protagonists of the migration crisis currently affecting the continent. Its immigration policy has hardened over the years, provoking ever more frequent debates, both in the country and in the European Union.
Common language and dialect
Italy is a recent country, having been unified in 1861. At the time of the Unification, only 10% of the population spoke Italian, according to a study by Arrigo Castellani, philologist and linguist. Among them, some had learned Italian at school and the others were Tuscan and therefore considered native Italian speakers. In fact, Tuscan is considered to be the closest dialect to modern Italian and the one that led to its development and diffusion. It was the language of Dante Alighieri, often referred to as the "father of the Italian language", and his famous Divine Comedy, which allowed Italian to become a literary idiom through its worldwide influence.
As different testimonies of the plural history of Italy, dialects are numerous in the country and some of them are still spoken every day. These dialects change from region to region, and even from village to village, and constitute a linguistic fabric of unique richness. According to some studies, there are more than 1,500 of them in the whole country! So, even if you are bilingual in Italian, the Venetian, Neapolitan or Calabrian dialects will remain totally obscure to you! These dialects are still widely used and passed down from generation to generation. It is often considered that television and the media have been the driving force behind the transmission of the Italian language as the only language in the country. However, dialects remain an essential cultural and historical reference for understanding Italy. In addition, it should be noted that some regions, due to their geographical position, are bilingual. For example, the population of Valle d'Aosta is generally fluent in French, and in Trentino-Alto Adige, German is the second local language.
