In 2024, the capital of Italy, Rome, maintained its position as the most populous city of the Italian peninsula. Over the last decade, the number of the Eternal City’s inhabitants has been growing, from about 2.6 million residents in 2012 to over 2.8 million individuals registered in 2020. From 2021, however, its population slightly dropped, reaching 2.75 million in 2024. Lazio, the region on the Tyrrhenian SeaRome is located in the region of Lazio. This central region, which in the west borders on the Tyrrhenian Sea, is the second-largest Italian region in terms of population, after Lombardy and before Campania. Expensive life in the Italian capital Despite being one of the most affordable European capitals in terms of average monthly rent, Rome occupies the second place on the Italian podium of cities with the highest dwelling rental prices. In 2019, an average monthly rent for a single room amounted to 448 euros, whereas the average monthly price in 2020 of a double room estimated at 287 euro per person, without utilities.

Historical dataset of population level and growth rate for the Rome, Italy metro area from 1950 to 2025.

The population of the Metropolitan city of Rome experienced a natural decrease in 2022, given that the number of deaths overcame the number of births by around 18,850 individuals. The migration balance showed instead a positive rate, as the number of immigrants was higher than the number of emigrants.

In 2024, out of 351,872 immigrants living in Rome, about 21 percent came from Romania, almost 74,000 people. Furthermore, around 38,000 Filipinos lived in the Italian capital, the second-largest non-Italian community in the city.

Throughout the early modern period, the largest city in Italy was Naples. The middle ages saw many metropolitan areas along the Mediterranean grow to become the largest in Europe, as they developed into meeting ports for merchants travelling between the three continents. Italy, throughout this time, was not a unified country, but rather a collection of smaller states that had many cultural similarities, and political control of these cities regularly shifted over the given period. Across this time, the population of each city generally grew between each century, but a series of plague outbreaks in the 1600s devastated the populations of Italy's metropolitan areas, which can be observed here. Naples At the beginning of the 1500s, the Kingdom of Naples was taken under the control of the Spanish crown, where its capital grew to become the largest city in the newly-expanding Spanish Empire. Prosperity then grew in the 16th and 17th centuries, before the city's international importance declined in the 18th century. There is also a noticeable dip in Naples' population size between 1600 and 1700, due to an outbreak of plague in 1656 that almost halved the population. Today, Naples is just the third largest city in Italy, behind Rome and Milan. Rome Over 2,000 years ago, Rome became the first city in the world to have a population of more than one million people, and in 2021, it was Italy's largest city with a population of 2.8 million; however it did go through a period of great decline in the middle ages. After the Fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476CE, Rome's population dropped rapidly, below 100,000 inhabitants in 500CE. 1,000 years later, Rome was an important city in Europe as it was the seat of the Catholic Church, and it had a powerful banking sector, but its population was just 55,000 people as it did not have the same appeal for merchants or migrants held by the other port cities. A series of reforms by the Papacy in the late-1500s then saw significant improvements to infrastructure, housing, and sanitation, and living standards rose greatly. Over the following centuries, the Papacy consolidated its power in the center of the Italian peninsula, which brought stability to the region, and the city of Rome became a cultural center. Across this period, Rome's population grew almost three times larger, which was the highest level of growth of these cities.

An original dataset concerning about 100 variables was appositely built for 132 urban districts (zone urbanistiche) with polling stations, out of 155, by which sub-municipal territories are further partitioned (Lelo et al., 2018; Tomassi, 2013). Data were collected by merging a number of sources: electoral files, the annual civil registry, the national census, transit databases, and in-depth surveys on public areas, local services, urbanization, and real estate

In 2025, Italy’s resident population is estimated to be almost 59 million inhabitants. About one-sixth of them lived in Lombardy, the most populous region in the country. Lazio and Campania followed, with roughly 5.7 million and 5.6 million inhabitants, respectively. These figures are mainly driven by Rome and Naples, the administrative capitals of these regions, and two of the largest metropolitan areas in the country. Which region has the oldest population? The population in Italy has become older and older over the last years. The average age in the country is equal to 46.8 years, but in some regions this figure is even higher. Liguria records an average age of 49.6 years and has one of the lowest birth rates in the country. Demographic trends for the future Liguria’s case, however, is not an outlier. Italy is already the country with the highest share of old people in Europe. At the same time, the very low number of new births means that, despite an always-increasing life expectancy, the Italian population is declining. Indeed, projections estimate that the country will have five million fewer inhabitants by 2050.

Social and economic inequalities between centre and peripheral belts have been increasing over the last years in Rome districts. In parallel, electoral data from 2000 to 2018 highlight sharp political polarization: votes for left-wing (right-wing or populist) candidates are inversely (directly) proportional to distance from the city’s centre. The left-wing coalition prevails where social centrality exists, that is in high-density districts with widespread social relationships and many public areas or local services. Right-wing and populist policies seem easier to the extent that suburban citizens feel deprived, unsafe, far from elected bodies, they lack public services, and worried about immigrants.

Rome is the most populous city in Italy. With 2.75 million inhabitants, the capital of the country put ahead Milan and Naples. Compared to the number of citizens in 2012, the resident population of Rome increased by over 140,000 individuals. Regional data Rome is located in the center of Italy in the Lazio region. Lazio is the second-largest region in terms of population size after Lombardy. In 2024, the region counts roughly 5.7 million inhabitants, whereas Lombardy has over ten million individuals. The third-largest region is Campania, with 5.6 million people. Naples, the major center of Campania, has around 910,000 inhabitants at the beginning of 2024. Nevertheless, this city was, back in the 19th century, one of the largest cities in Western Europe. Tourism in Rome The Eternal City is also the main tourist destination in Italy and was the eighth most-visited city in Europe. The largest groups of international visitors in Rome came from the United States of America, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Every year, more and more tourists also enjoy the best-known tourist attractions in Rome, like the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and the Palatine Hill, which together recorded almost ten million visitors in 2022.

As of January 2025, about 59 million people lived in Italy. Around 29 million individuals were males and 30 million people were females. The most populated area of the country was the north-west, where 15.9 million people lived. Furthermore, the southern regions counted 13.4 million inhabitants, representing the second most populous area of the country. Regional census The northern region of Lombardy is the most populous region of Italy. One-sixth of all the Italian population is concentrated in this area. Lazio and Campania follow with approximately 5.7 million and 5.6 million individuals, respectively. On the other hand, Aosta Valley, a northern region bordering to France and Switzerland, counted 123,000 inhabitants, representing the smallest region of Italy in terms of residents as well as area. More and more Italians are moving abroad In recent years, the number of Italians reported living abroad increased. In 2022, 5.8 million people lived outside Italy, almost three million more than in 2006. The country hosting the largest Italian population is Argentina, while other large Italian communities reside in Germany, Switzerland, and Brazil.

Demographic characteristics of the subjects enrolled at the National Institute for Infectious Diseases in Rome, Italy.

As of January 2021, the population of the Italian province of Rome amounted to 4.2 million people. Between 2019 and 2021, the number of individuals living in Rome, located in the Central region of Lazio, experienced a slight decrease.

BackgroundA large body of evidence supports an inverse association between socioeconomic status and mortality. We analysed data from a large cohort of residents in Rome followed-up between 2001 and 2012 to assess the relationship between individual education and mortality. We distinguished five causes of death and investigated the role of age, gender, and birthplace.MethodsFrom the Municipal Register we enrolled residents of Rome on October 21st 2001 and collected information on educational level attained from the 2001 Census. We selected Italian citizens aged 30–74 years and followed-up their vital status until 2012 (n = 1,283,767), identifying the cause of death from the Regional Mortality Registry. We calculated hazard ratios (HRs) for overall and cause-specific mortality in relation to education. We used age, gender, and birthplace for adjusted or stratified analyses. We used the inverse probability weighting approach to account for right censoring due to emigration.ResultsWe observed an inverse association between education (none vs. post-secondary+ level) and overall mortality (HRs(95%CIs): 2.1(1.98–2.17), males; 1.5(1.46–1.59), females) varying according to demographic characteristics. Cause-specific analysis also indicated an inverse association with education, in particular for respiratory, digestive or circulatory system related-mortality, and the youngest people seemed to be more vulnerable to low education.ConclusionOur results confirm the inverse association between education and overall or cause-specific mortality and show differentials particularly marked among young people compared to the elderly. The findings provide further evidence from the Mediterranean area, and may contribute to national and cross-country comparisons in Europe to understand the mechanisms generating socioeconomic differentials especially during the current recession period.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the area of modern-day Italy, at the time a collection of various states and kingdoms, was estimated to have a population of nineteen million, a figure which would grow steadily throughout the century, and by the establishment of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861, the population would rise to just over 26 million.

Italy’s population would see its first major disruption during the First World War, as Italy would join the Allied Forces in their fight against Austria-Hungary and Germany. In the First World War, Italy’s population would largely stagnate at 36 million, only climbing again following the end of the war in 1920. While Italy would also play a prominent role in the Second World War, as the National Fascist Party-led country would fight alongside Germany against the Allies, Italian fatalities from the war would not represent a significant percentage of Italy’s population compared to other European countries in the conflict. As a result, Italy would exit the Second World War with a population of just over 45 million.

From this point onwards the Italian economy started to recover from the war, and eventually boomed, leading to increased employment and standards of living, which facilitated steady population growth until the mid-1980s, when falling fertility and birth rates would cause growth to largely cease. From this point onward, the Italian population would remain at just over 57 million, until the 2000s when it began growing again due to an influx of migrants, peaking in 2017 at just over 60 million people. In the late 2010s, however, the Italian population began declining again, as immigration slowed and the economy weakened. As a result, in 2020, Italy is estimated to have fallen to a population of 59 million.

A multidisciplinary approach, combining stable isotope analysis from bone proteins and investigations on dental calculus using DNA analysis, light microscopy, and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, was applied to reconstruct dietary and medicinal habits of the individuals recovered in the cemetery of the Castle of Santa Severa (7th-15th centuries CE; Rome, Italy). Stable isotope analysis was performed on 120 humans, 41 faunal specimens and 8 charred seeds. Dental calculus analyses were carried out on 94 samples. Overall, isotope data indicated an omnivorous diet based on C3-terrestrial protein, although some individuals possessed carbon values indicative of C4 plant consumption. In terms of animal protein, the diet was probably based on cattle, sheep, pig and chicken products, as witnessed by the archaeozoological findings. Evidence from calculus suggested the consumption of C3 cereals, Fabaceae, Fagaceae, milk and dairy products. Secondary metabolites of herbs and wine were also detected. The detection of marine fish ancient DNA, as well as of ω3 fatty acids in calculus, hypothesized the consumption of marine foodstuffs for this coastal population, despite the lack of a clear marine isotopic signal and the presence of polyunsaturated fatty acids in plant tissues. Moreover, the knowledge of ethnopharmacological tradition and the application of medicinal plants (e.g. Punica granatum L., Ephedra sp. L.) were also identified. The detection of artemisinin, known to have antimalarial properties, led to hypothesize the presence of malaria in the area. Altogether, the combined application of microscopy and biomolecular techniques provided an innovative reconstruction of Medieval lifeways in Central Italy.

The main purpose of the study was to investigate the nature of poverty and its demographic dimensions in Florence, Turin and Rome about the year 1810. The data were collected from petitions made by households seeking poor relief from the respective urban authorities.

This statistic shows the ten largest cities in Italy in 2025. In 2025, around 2.75 million people lived in Rome, making it the largest city in Italy. Population of Italy Italy has high population figures and a high population density in comparison to other European countries. A vast majority of Italians lives in urban areas and in the metropolises (as can be seen in this statistic), while other areas, such as the island Sardinia, are rather sparsely inhabited. After an increase a few years ago, Italy’s fertility rate, i.e. the average amount of children born to a woman of childbearing age, is now on a slow decline; however, it is still high enough to offset any significant effect the decrease might have on the country’s number of inhabitants. The median age of Italy’s population has been increasing rapidly over the past 50 years – which mirrors a lower mortality rate – and Italy is now among the countries with the highest life expectancy worldwide, only surpassed by two Asian countries, namely Japan and Hong Kong. Currently, the average life expectancy at birth in Italy is at about 83 years. Most of Italy’s population is of Roman Catholic faith. The country actually boasts one of the largest numbers of Catholics worldwide; other such countries include Brazil, Mexico and the United States. The central government of the Roman Catholic Church, the Holy See, is located in Vatican City in the heart of Italy’s capital and ruled by the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. Officially, Vatican City does not belong to Italy, but is a sovereign state with its own legislation and jurisdiction. It has about 600 inhabitants, who are almost exclusively members of the clergy or government officials.

Supplementary material 3 from: Astuti G, Roma-Marzio F, D'Antraccoli M, Bedini G, Carta A, Sebastiani F, Bruschi P, Peruzzi L (2017) Conservation biology of the last Italian population of Cistus laurifolius (Cistaceae): demographic structure, reproductive success and population genetics. Nature Conservation 22: 169-190. https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.22.19809

Rome is the largest Italian metropolitan area. As of 2025, the urban area of the capital city has a population of around 4.22 million people. Milan and Naples follow with 3.25 million and 2.96 million people, respectively. In terms of inhabitants per square kilometer, Naples, located in the south, has the highest population density. Rome, Milan, and Naples are also Italy's largest cities.

Naples is the Italian city with the highest population density. As of 2025, the largest south Italian city counts 7,780 inhabitants per square kilometer. Milan followed with around 7,500 residents per square kilometer, whereas Rome, the largest Italian city, registered a population density of only 2,135 people, 5,645 inhabitants per square kilometer less than Naples.