Italia

Italy became a nation-state in 1861 when the regional states of the peninsula, along with Sardinia and Sicily, were united under King Victor EMMANUEL II. An era of parliamentary government came to a close in the early 1920s when Benito MUSSOLINI established a Fascist dictatorship. His alliance with Nazi Germany led to Italy's defeat in World War II. A democratic republic replaced the monarchy in 1946 and economic revival followed. Italy is a charter member of NATO and the European Economic Community (EEC). It has been at the forefront of European economic and political unification, joining the Economic and Monetary Union in 1999. Persistent problems include sluggish economic growth, high youth and female unemployment, organized crime, corruption, and economic disparities between southern Italy and the more prosperous north.

predominantly Mediterranean alpine in far north hot, dry in south

Europe Southern Europe Southern Europe, a peninsula extending into the central Mediterranean Sea, northeast of Tunisia strategic location dominating central Mediterranean as well as southern sea and air approaches to Western Europe

mostly rugged and mountainous some plains, coastal lowlands

Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco) de Courmayeur 4 748 m 15 577 ft Mediterranean Sea 0 m 0 ft Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco) de Courmayeur Mount Everest

coal mercury zinc potash marble barite asbestos pumice fluorspar feldspar pyrite (sulfur) natural gas and crude oil reserves fish arable land

Regional risks include landslides, mudflows, avalanches, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flooding; land subsidence in Venice Significant volcanic activity; Etna (elev. 3,330 m), which is in eruption as of 2010, is Europe's most active volcano; flank eruptions pose a threat to nearby Sicilian villages; Etna, along with the famous Vesuvius, which remains a threat to the millions of nearby residents in the Bay of Naples area, have both been deemed Decade Volcanoes by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior, worthy of study due to their explosive history and close proximity to human populations; Stromboli, on its namesake island, has also been continuously active with moderate volcanic activity; other historically active volcanoes include Campi Flegrei, Ischia, Larderello, Pantelleria, Vulcano, and Vulsini

air pollution from industrial emissions such as sulfur dioxide coastal and inland rivers polluted from industrial and agricultural effluents acid rain damaging lakes inadequate industrial waste treatment and disposal facilities

1836 km 1141 mi Austria 404 km/251 mi France 476 km/296 mi Holy See 3.4 km/21 mi San Marino 37 km/23 mi Slovenia 218 km/135 mi Switzerland 698 km/434 mi

7 600 km/4 722 mi 31.20 % 23.20 % 46.30 %

fruits, vegetables, grapes, potatoes, sugar beets, soybeans, grain, olives beef, dairy products fish

tourism machinery iron and steel chemicals food processing textiles motor vehicles clothing footwear ceramics

61 336 387	+1.81%	51.4 %	48.6 %
	0-14 13.8 %	15-64 64.2 %	65+ 22 %
	203.55 / km2 527.18 / mi2	68.82% 42 212 315	31% 19 124 072
	79.90 yrs	84.80 Anni	82.42 Anni

5.52 % 1.39 % 8.26 % 11.6 % 15.83 % 162.64 % 0.83 %

Italian (official) German (parts of Trentino-Alto Adige region are predominantly German-speaking) French (small French-speaking minority in Valle d'Aosta region) Slovene (Slovene-speaking minority in the Trieste-Gorizia area)

Christian 80% (overwhelmingly Roman Catholic with very small groups of Jehovah's Witnesses and Protestants) Muslim (about 800,000 to 1 million) Atheist and Agnostic 20%

Italian (includes small clusters of German- French- And Slovene-Italians in the north and Albanian-Italians and Greek-Italians in the south)

Italia Italy Italie Italia Italia イタリア Republic Bicameral Parliament or Parlamento consists of the Senate or Senato della Repubblica (322 seats; 315 members directly elected in single- and multi-seat constituencies by proportional representation vote to serve 5-year terms and 7 ex-officio members appointed by the president of the Republic to serve for life) and the Chamber of Deputies or Camera dei Deputati (630 seats; 629 members directly elected in single- and multi-seat constituencies by proportional representation vote and 1 member from Valle d'Aosta elected by simple majority vote; members serve 5-year terms) Three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side), white, and red; design inspired by the French flag brought to Italy by Napoleon in 1797; colors are those of Milan (red and white) combined with the green uniform color of the Milanese civic guard "Il Canto degli Italiani" (The Song of the Italians) white, five-pointed star (Stella d'Italia) National colors: red, white, green President Sergio MATTARELLA (3 February 2015) Giorgio NAPOLITANO resigned 14 January 2015 17 March 1861 (Kingdom of Italy proclaimed Italy was not finally unified until 1870) Republic Day, 2 June (1946) ADB (nonregional member), AfDB (nonregional member), Arctic Council (observer), Australia Group, BIS, BSEC (observer), CBSS (observer), CD, CDB, CE, CEI, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECB, EIB, EITI (implementing country), EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, FATF, G-7, G-8, G-10, G-20, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (national committees), ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IGAD (partners), IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), LAIA (observer), MIGA, MINURSO, MINUSMA, NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, Pacific Alliance (observer), Paris Club, PCA, PIF (partner), Schengen Convention, SELEC (observer), SICA (observer), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, Union Latina, UNMOGIP, UNRWA, UNTSO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC Rome 41 54 N, 12 29 E UTC+1 ROME 3.718 million Milan 3.099 million Naples 2.202 million Turin 1.765 million Palermo 853,000 Bergamo 840,000 15 regions (regioni, singular - regione) and 5 autonomous regions (regioni autonome, singular - regione autonoma)

129 (2013)

Augusta, Cagliari, Genoa, Livorno, Taranto, Trieste, Venice

3.4 beds/1,000 population (2011)

3.76 physicians/1,000 population (2012)

Supreme Court of Cassation consists of the first president (chief justice), deputy president, 54 justices presiding over 6 civil and 7 criminal divisions, and 288 judges; an additional 30 judges of lower courts serve as supporting judges; cases normally heard by 5-judge panels; more complex cases heard by 9-judge panels

18 years of age universal except in senatorial elections, where minimum age is 25

Italian Armed Forces Army (Esercito Italiano, EI), Navy (Marina Militare Italiana, MMI), Italian Air Force (Aeronautica Militare Italiana, AMI), Carabinieri Corps (Arma dei Carabinieri, CC) (2011)

Italy has a diversified economy, which is divided into a developed industrial north, dominated by private companies, and a less-developed, highly subsidized, agricultural south, where unemployment is higher. The Italian economy is driven in large part by the manufacture of high-quality consumer goods produced by small and medium-sized enterprises, many of them family-owned. Italy also has a sizable underground economy, which by some estimates accounts for as much as 17% of GDP. These activities are most common within the agriculture, construction, and service sectors. Italy is the third-largest economy in the euro-zone, but its exceptionally high public debt and structural impediments to growth have rendered it vulnerable to scrutiny by financial markets. Public debt has increased steadily since 2007, topping 132% of GDP in 2014, but investor concerns about Italy and the broader euro-zone crisis eased in 2013, bringing down Italy's borrowing costs on sovereign government debt from euro-era records. The government still faces pressure from investors and European partners to sustain its efforts to address Italy's long-standing structural impediments to growth, such as labor market inefficiencies and tax evasion. In 2014 economic growth and labor market conditions continued to deteriorate, with overall unemployment rising to 12.2% and youth unemployment around 40%. Italy's GDP is now nearly 10% below its 2007 pre-crisis level. 2 128 761 903 706.7 $USD 34 706.3 $USD -0.44 % engineering products, chemicals, transport equipment, energy products, minerals and nonferrous metals, textiles and clothing; food, beverages, tobacco Germany 16.1% France 9% China 7.3% Netherlands 5.8% Spain 5% Belgium 4.5% engineering products, textiles and clothing, production machinery, motor vehicles, transport equipment, chemicals; foodstuffs, beverages, and tobacco; minerals, nonferrous metals Germany 12.8% France 10.7% US 7.2% UK 5.3% Switzerland 4.7% Spain 4.6% euros (EUR) per US dollar 0.7489 (2014 est.) 0.2% (2014 est.)

487 700 km 303 043 mi	20 182 km 12 540 mi	2 400 km 1 491 mi (used for commercial traffic; of limited overall value compared to road and rail)
33 per 100 people country code - 39 a series of submarine cables provide links to Asia, Middle East, Europe, North Africa, and US	154.25 / 100	61.96 / 100 .it

two Italian media giants dominate - the publicly owned Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI) with 3 national terrestrial stations and privately owned Mediaset with 3 national terrestrial stations a large number of private stations and Sky Italia - a satellite TV network RAI operates 3 AM/FM nationwide radio stations some 1,300 commercial radio stations (2007)

AM about 100 FM about 4,600 shortwave 9 (1998)

397 994.18 kt 6.70 kt pro capite

18.34 μg/m3

19 631.60 kt CO2 equivalent

37 547.90 kt CO2 equivalent

7

74

51

987

100 %	100 %

2 562 kg of oil equivalent per capita	81 %	8 %