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

The population residing in the metropolitan city of Milan has progressively aged from 2010 to 2025. In fact, the share of young citizens between zero and 14 years old, who constitute less than one-fifth of the total, decreased by more than one percentage point. Similarly, the adults between 15 and 64 years old recorded a contraction of 0.1 percentage points. On the contrary, the inhabitants aged 65 years old or more augmented their share by 1.8 percentage points. The eldest European country The pattern displayed in the figure matches the age distribution of the Italian population. Over the last twenty years, only the share of citizens aged 65 and older expanded, growing by 5.4 percent, while for children between zero and 14 years old and adults from 15 to 64 years, a reduction was registered of 1.7 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively. The data clearly highlights the acute demographic decline that the country is experiencing. Italy is the second-oldest country globally and the first in Europe, with almost 24 percent of the population aged more than 65 years. Without effective and targeted policies to encourage natality and to support young families, it will be decisively problematic to revert this trend, which can have a critical impact on public finances too. Unsustainable pension system The aging population, combined with a shrinkage of young individuals, seriously endangers the sustainability of the public pension system as well as the state’s capacity to provide adequate social security to its citizens. More and more workers are retiring, and hence the country is forced to reserve an increasing share of its budget for welfare policies. Without a proportionate labor turnover from older to newer generations, which can adequately support the pension scheme, policymakers must resort to public debt to cover the missing share of contributions. The indebtedness in 2024 amounted to 1.35 times the gross domestic product (GDP). As this trend is predicted to increase, the Italian government is urged to find a solution that must reconcile the protection of 16 million pensioners with an always growing lack of pension contributions paid by the young workforce.

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.

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.

From 2019 to 2025, the population of Milan has decreased by almost 30,000 inhabitants. The peak was reached in 2020, when more than 1.4 million people lived in the city, after which the decreasing trend started. In 2025, there were 1.36 million inhabitants. This trend can be explained by the fact that many residents may be willing to move to neighboring municipalities to cope with the increasing cost of living, which has affected the city recently. Despite this slight fall, Milan remains the second-largest city in Italy, after Rome and before Naples.