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.

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

Residents in the municipality of Bologna increased from 2010 to 2024 by more than two percent. In 2011, the city recorded the lowest number of citizens of the decade, slightly above 370,000 inhabitants. However, from 2012, a constant growth started until 2019, when the peak was reached with 395,000 people. Since then, a decreasing trend occurred, which stabilized the resident population around 390,700 individuals in 2024, making Bologna the seventh-biggest city in Italy.

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.

Demographic characteristics of 145 volunteers residing in Pianoro municipality, Bologna Province (northeastern Italy).

The mean age in Bologna between 2010 and 2024 presented a decreasing trend. In fact, from 47.3 years old at the beginning of the decade, the average age dropped to 47 years old in 2024. Overall, Bologna remains above the Italian median age, corresponding to 48 years old for 2025, but, among others, one reason for the slightly diminishing pattern could be found in the city's ability to constantly attract young students, the University of Bologna being one of the biggest and most prestigious in the country.

The IN-LiMeS is a multicentre and multipurpose pool of metropolitan population cohorts in nine Italian cities: Turin, Venice, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna, Florence, Leghorn, Prato, and Rome. The network functions as an integrated monitoring system gathering demographic, socioeconomic, and clinical information at the individual level from four linked data sources, including the 2001 Italian Census. Over 4.4 million participants were enrolled in the network as of the 2001 census day across the 9 cohorts. The earliest data included in the network originates from the 1971 Italian Census as part of the Turin cohort.

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 **** percent. Italian demographics In 2024, beyond **** million foreign residents lived in Italy, compared to the total population of ** 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 **** years by 2050, whereas the country experienced a constant decline in the number of births. In 2010, almost ******* babies came into life, but ten years later only ******* 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 **** percent, whereas in the south it reached ** percent.

The 4th century BC marks the main entrance of Celtic populations in northern Italy. Their arrival has been suggested based on the presence of Celtic customs in Etruscan mortuary contexts, yet up to now few bioarchaeological data have been examined to support or reject the arrival of these newcomers. Here we use strontium isotopes, non-metric dental traits and funerary patterns to unravel the biocultural structure of the necropolis of Monterenzio Vecchio (Bologna, Italy). Subsamples of our total sample of 38 individuals were analyzed based on different criteria characterizing the following analyses: 1) strontium isotope analysis to investigate migratory patterns and provenance; 2) non-metric dental traits to establish biological relationships between Monterenzio Vecchio, 13 Italian Iron age necropolises and three continental and non-continental Celtic necropolises; 3) grave goods which were statistically explored to detect possible patterns of cultural variability. The strontium isotopes results indicate the presence of local and non-local individuals, with some revealing patterns of mobility. The dental morphology reveals an affinity between Monterenzio Vecchio and Iron Age Italian samples. However, when the Monterenzio Vecchio sample is separated by isotopic results into locals and non-locals, the latter share affinity with the sample of non-continental Celts from Yorkshire (UK). Moreover, systematic analyses demonstrate that ethnic background does not retain measurable impact on the distribution of funerary elements. Our results confirm the migration of Celtic populations in Monterenzio as archaeologically hypothesized on the basis of the grave goods, followed by a high degree of cultural admixture between exogenous and endogenous traits. This contribution shows that combining different methods offers a more comprehensive perspective for the exploration of biocultural processes in past and present populations.

This statistic illustrates the share of population covered by broadband lines in the Italian province of Bologna in 2018, broken down by speed. According to data, the share of population covered by broadband lines with speed included in the range from * Mbit/s to ** Mbit/s reached ***** percent.

This statistic displays the number of people talking about the Facebook page of the metropolitan city of Bologna in Italy from 2014 to 2015. The Facebook metric People Talking About This (PTAT) shows the number of unique people that created a story about a Facebook page. According to data, the number of people that created a story about the Facebook page of the metropolitan city of Bologna decreased dramatically passing from ***** in July 2014 to ***** in March 2015.

In the academic year 2023/2023, 112,000 students were enrolled at La Sapienza University of Rome, the largest Italian university. Pegaso online University followed with 99,600 enrollments. Around 84,000 students attended classes in Bologna, the oldest university in the world and the best in the country. Finally, the University of Turin collected 77,000 students. In total, 1.9 million undergraduates were enrolled at Italian universities. Ancient, public, and digital higher education Among the 20 largest Italian universities, 16 of them are public institutes. The four private universities are the Catholic University of Milan and three online universities. Among them, Pegaso University was founded in 2006 and counts 95,000 students. Many of the world's oldest higher-learning institutions are located in Italy. The University of Bologna is the oldest university, continuously operating since 1088. In 1222, scholars from Bologna founded the University of Padua. Two years later, in 1224, the University of Naples Federico II was established, the oldest public and secular institution globally. In the 14th century were constituted the universities of Perugia, Siena, Pisa, and Pavia. Popular courses of study Back in the Middle Ages, the University of Bologna offered mainly subjects of liberal arts, law, and theology. However, these seem to rank lower among the most common degrees nowadays. Almost 270,000 students in Italy enrolled in medicine programs, the most popular field of study. Moreover, economics was the second most chosen degree program.

Among the largest cities in Italy, Rome has the highest number of people travelling daily for work or study purposes. In 2019, the city of Rome counted *** million commuters. About *** million people commuted within their own municipality, representing ** percent of all commuters in Rome. In the same year, Bologna and Verona were the two Italian cities recording the largest percentage of people commuting outside their own municipality, with about ** percent of the total.