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.

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.

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.

Population in largest city in Italy was reported at 4331974 in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Italy - Population in largest city - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on November of 2025.

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.

Population in the largest city (% of urban population) in Italy was reported at 10.16 % in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Italy - Population in the largest city - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on November of 2025.

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.

Italy IT: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data was reported at 8.953 % in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 8.920 % for 2016. Italy IT: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data is updated yearly, averaging 8.946 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 9.181 % in 1972 and a record low of 8.240 % in 1960. Italy IT: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Italy – Table IT.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the percentage of a country's urban population living in that country's largest metropolitan area.; ; United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.; Weighted Average;

Actual value and historical data chart for Italy Urban Population Percent Of Total

Italy IT: Urban Population: % of Total Population data was reported at 70.144 % in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 69.855 % for 2016. Italy IT: Urban Population: % of Total Population data is updated yearly, averaging 66.816 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 70.144 % in 2017 and a record low of 59.361 % in 1960. Italy IT: Urban Population: % of Total Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Italy – Table IT.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Urban population refers to people living in urban areas as defined by national statistical offices. The data are collected and smoothed by United Nations Population Division.; ; United Nations Population Division. World Urbanization Prospects: 2018 Revision.; Weighted average;

Our analysis focuses on seven metropolitan cities across Italy. Here, we report the number of spatial cells of the mobile phone network and the population (in thousands) of each of these cities split across 6 age groups. Population data is retrieved from the 2011 Italian census and comprises all the census sections within the phone cells considered for each city. It is important to highlight that in each cell of the network there can be several mobile phone users, thus we cannot estimate the fraction of the census population included in our data set. Note that the age groups provided by the Italian census do not perfectly match those of the Telecom Italia dataset.

Comprehensive socio-economic dataset for Italy including population demographics, economic indicators, geographic data, and social statistics. This dataset covers key metrics such as GDP, population density, area, capital city, and regional classifications.

This statistic illustrates the leading ten Italian cities with the highest proportion of foreign-born residents as of 2016. According to the study results, the town with the largest proportion of foreigners was Milan, where almost one in five residents (** percent) came from abroad. The size of the foreign population as a share of the total number of residents was **** percent in Brescia and **** percent in Prato.

Italy IT: Population in Urban Agglomerations of More Than 1 Million data was reported at 10,832,856.000 Person in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 10,808,501.000 Person for 2016. Italy IT: Population in Urban Agglomerations of More Than 1 Million data is updated yearly, averaging 10,425,256.000 Person from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 10,832,856.000 Person in 2017 and a record low of 7,956,906.000 Person in 1960. Italy IT: Population in Urban Agglomerations of More Than 1 Million data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Italy – Table IT.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in urban agglomerations of more than one million is the country's population living in metropolitan areas that in 2000 had a population of more than one million people.; ; United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.; ;

Historical dataset showing Italy urban population by year from 1960 to 2023.

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

Actual value and historical data chart for Italy Population In Urban Agglomerations Of More Than 1 Million

Dataset details: Year: Year is from 1955 to 2020 Population: Count of Italy's population per year Yearly % Change: Percentage of yearly change in population Yearly Change: Count of yearly change in population Migrants (net): Number of Migrants per year Median Age: Median Age of the population Fertility Rate: Fertility Rate of the population Density: Population Density is in (P/Km²) Urban Pop%: percentage of Urban Population% Urban Pop: Count of Urban Population count Country's Share of World Pop: Percentage of share of Italy's population to the world population World Population: Count of the world population Italy Global Rank : Italy's Global Rank

Forecast: Population in Urban Agglomerations of More Than 1 Million in Italy 2024 - 2028 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

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