In 2023, the share of urban population in Italy remained nearly unchanged at around 71.97 percent. Nevertheless, 2023 still represents a peak in the share in Italy. The urban population refers to the share of the total population living in urban centers. Each country has their own definition of what constitutes an urban center (based on population size, area, or space between dwellings, among others), therefore international comparisons may be inconsistent.Find more key insights for the share of urban population in countries like Greece and Malta.

Rome is the largest Italian metropolitan area. As of 2024, the urban area of the capital city has a population of around 4.23 million people. Milan and Naples follow with 3.25 million and 2.97 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.

This statistic shows the size of the urban and rural populations of Italy between 1960 and 2019. Between 2000 and 2010, the rural population of Italy increased slightly. Since 2010 however, the rural population of Italy has declined by approximately 900,000.

Italy IT: Rural Population: % of Total Population data was reported at 29.856 % in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 30.145 % for 2016. Italy IT: Rural Population: % of Total Population data is updated yearly, averaging 33.184 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 40.639 % in 1960 and a record low of 29.856 % in 2017. Italy IT: Rural 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. Rural population refers to people living in rural areas as defined by national statistical offices. It is calculated as the difference between total population and urban population.; ; World Bank staff estimates based on the United Nations Population Division's World Urbanization Prospects: 2018 Revision.; Weighted average;

This dataset provides world health statistics indicators for Italy. It includes different indicators for heath (Population living in urban areas, Literacy rate among adults aged, Civil registration coverage of births etc).

In 2024, 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 46.6 years, but in some regions this figure is even higher. Liguria records an average age of 49.5 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.

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.

Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the Rome, Italy metro area from 1950 to 2025. United Nations population projections are also included through the year 2035.

Italy IT: Rural Population Living in Areas Where Elevation is Below 5 Meters: % of Total Population data was reported at 1.499 % in 2010. This records a decrease from the previous number of 1.509 % for 2000. Italy IT: Rural Population Living in Areas Where Elevation is Below 5 Meters: % of Total Population data is updated yearly, averaging 1.509 % from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2010, with 3 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1.538 % in 1990 and a record low of 1.499 % in 2010. Italy IT: Rural Population Living in Areas Where Elevation is Below 5 Meters: % 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: Land Use, Protected Areas and National Wealth. Rural population below 5m is the percentage of the total population, living in areas where the elevation is 5 meters or less.; ; Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN)/Columbia University. 2013. Urban-Rural Population and Land Area Estimates Version 2. Palisades, NY: NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/data/set/lecz-urban-rural-population-land-area-estimates-v2.; Weighted Average;

This statistic shows the ten largest cities in Italy in 2024. In 2024, 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.

In the year 1500, the share of Western Europe's population living in urban areas was just six percent, but this rose to 31 percent by the end of the 19th century. Despite this drastic change, development was quite slow between 1500 and 1800, and it was not until the industrial revolution when there was a spike in urbanization. As Britain was the first region to undergo the industrial revolution, from around the 1760s until the 1840s, these areas were the most urbanized in Europe by 1890. The Low Countries Prior to the 19th century, Belgium and the Netherlands had been the most urbanized regions due to the legacy of their proto-industrial areas in the medieval period, and then the growth of their port cities during the Netherlands' empirical expansion (Belgium was a part of the Netherlands until the 1830s). Belgium was also quick to industrialize in the 1800s, and saw faster development than its larger, more economically powerful neighbors, France and Germany. Least-urban areas Ireland was the only Western European region with virtually no urbanization in the 16th and 17th century, but the industrial growth of Belfast and Dublin (then major port cities of the British Empire) saw this change by the late-1800s. The region of Scandinavia was the least-urbanized area in Western Europe by 1890, but it saw rapid economic growth in Europe during the first half of the following century.

Naples is the Italian city with the highest population density. As of 2024, the largest south Italian city counts 7,800 inhabitants per square kilometer. Milan followed with 7,600 residents per square kilometer, whereas Rome, the largest Italian city, registered a population density of only 2,100 people, 5,700 inhabitants per square kilometer less than Naples.

Population by age groups and sex.

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.

This statistic illustrates the annual population density in the Italian municipalities from 2010 to 2017. According to the figure, the population density reached its lowest point in 2011 with 196.6 inhabitants per squared kilometer. The value peaked in 2014 at 201.2 people per squared kilometer. As of 2015, there were 201 inhabitants per squared kilometer living in the Italian cities.

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.

In 2023, the biggest communities of foreign nationals in Italy were in Milan, Bologna, Florence, Turin, Rome, and Genoa, where more than ten percent of the inhabitants were not of Italian origin. These cities are mostly located in the north of the country. On the contrary, in the southern municipalities of Bari, Catania, and Palermo the incidence of the immigrant population is minimal, well below five percent. Italian demographics In 2024, beyond five million foreign residents lived in Italy, compared to the total population of 59 million inhabitants. Projections assert that in the upcoming years, the number of Italian citizens will progressively decrease, mostly given to the aging population and low birth rates. In fact, it has been predicted that the median age could reach 53.6 years by 2050, whereas the country experienced a constant decline in the number of births. In 2010, almost 550,000 babies came into life, but ten years later only 400,000 births were recorded. The divide between north and south From the distribution of immigrant residents, there is an evident separation between the northern Italian regions and the southern part of the country, making those territories less attractive for foreigners in terms of work opportunities. Analysis on the index of the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in 2005, in 2015 and 2025 reveal that the total wealth produced by the southern region represents only half of the one recorded in the north. Moreover, in 2023 the unemployment rate in northern regions was around four percent, whereas in the south it reached 14 percent.

In 2024, Liguria was the region with the largest share of the population aged 65 years or older. By contrast, 20.9 percent of inhabitants in Campania belonged to this age group, the lowest percentage nationwide. Data showing the age distribution by macro-region reveal that the north-west of Italy had the oldest population, while people living in the southern regions were the youngest nationwide.

In 2018, the share of Italian households owning a dwelling in central metropolitan areas was as high as 76.9 percent. The share of homeowners was even higher in the suburbs. In fact, over 88 percent of Italian residents living in the suburbs of large metropolitan areas were homeowners.

From 2015 to 2023, the percentage of internet users in both metropolitan central areas and metropolitan suburbs in Italy increased to interest approximately 80 percent. Moreover, central areas registered a slightly higher number of individuals using the internet. Specifically, about 84 percent of individuals living in these areas used internet in 2023. Furthermore, if considering the area of origin of internet users, most of them came from the North regions. Italian internet users increased significantly from 2006 to 2023 From 2006 to 2023, the usage of internet in Italy increased significantly. Indeed, if in 2006 only 34 percent of the Italian population surfed on the web, the penetration rate of internet more than doubled in 2023. The internet user penetration in Italy is estimated to increase to roughly 96 percent by 2029. In 2023, there were roughly 47 million internet users in Italy. More than a half of Italians use internet every day In addition to the gradual increase in the usage of internet, also the percentage of internet daily users rose constantly. In fact, more than 67 percent of the Italian population used internet every day in 2023. Moreover, a rather balanced gender distribution was registered among the Italians who used internet on a daily basis. However, a significant gender gap was found among individuals aged 65 and older using the internet.