| Informazioni sull'Italia (Fonte: CIA -- The World Factbook 1999) |
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| Informazioni sull'Italia (Fonte: CIA -- The World Factbook 1999) |
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[Top] Background: Italy failed to secure political unification until the 1860s, thus lacking the military and imperial power of Spain, Britain, and France. The fascist dictatorship of MUSSOLINI after World War I, led to the disastrous alliance with HITLER's Germany and defeat in World War II. Italy was a founding member of the European Economic Community (EEC) and joined in the growing political and economic unification of Western Europe, including the introduction of the euro in January 1999. On-going problems include illegal immigration, the ravages of organized crime, high unemployment, and the low incomes and technical standards of Southern Italy compared with the North. |
[Top] Location: Southern Europe, a peninsula extending into the central Mediterranean Sea, northeast of Tunisia Geographic coordinates: 42 50 N, 12 50 E Map references: Europe Area: Area—comparative: slightly larger than Arizona Land boundaries: Coastline: 7,600 km Maritime claims: Climate: predominantly Mediterranean; Alpine in far north; hot, dry in south Terrain: mostly rugged and mountainous; some plains, coastal lowlands Elevation extremes:
Natural resources: mercury, potash, marble, sulfur, dwindling natural gas and crude oil reserves, fish, coal Land use: Irrigated land: 27,100 sq km (1993 est.) Natural hazards: regional risks include landslides, mudflows, avalanches, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flooding; land subsidence in Venice Environment—current issues: 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 Environment—international
agreements: Geography—note: strategic location dominating central Mediterranean as well as southern sea and air approaches to Western Europe |
[Top] Population: 56,735,130 (July 1999 est.) Age structure: Population growth rate: -0.08% (1999 est.) Birth rate: 9.27 births/1,000 population (1999 est.) Death rate: 10.28 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.) Net migration rate: 0.17 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 est.) Sex ratio: Infant mortality rate: 6.3 deaths/1,000 live births (1999 est.) Life expectancy at
birth: Total fertility rate: 1.22 children born/woman (1999 est.) Nationality: Ethnic groups: Italian (includes small clusters of German-, French-, and Slovene-Italians in the north and Albanian-Italians and Greek-Italians in the south) Religions: Roman Catholic 98%, other 2% Languages: Italian, 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) Literacy: |
[Top] Country name: Data code: IT Government type: republic Capital: Rome Administrative divisions: 20 regions (regioni, singular—regione); Abruzzi, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardia, Marche, Molise, Piemonte, Puglia, Sardegna, Sicilia, Toscana, Trentino-Alto Adige, Umbria, Valle d'Aosta, Veneto Independence: 17 March 1861 (Kingdom of Italy proclaimed) National holiday: Anniversary of the Republic, 2 June (1946) Constitution: 1 January 1948 Legal system: based on civil law system, with ecclesiastical law influence; appeals treated as trials de novo; judicial review under certain conditions in Constitutional Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal (except in senatorial elections, where minimum age is 25) Executive branch:
Legislative branch:
bicameral Parliament or Parlamento consists of the Senate
or Senato della Repubblica (326 seats—315 elected by
popular vote of which 232 are directly elected and 83 are
elected by regional proportional representation, 11 are
appointed senators-for-life; members serve five-year
terms) and the Chamber of Deputies or Camera dei Deputati
(630 seats; 475 are directly elected, 155 by regional
proportional representation; members serve five-year
terms) Judicial branch: Constitutional Court or Corte Costituzionale, composed of 15 judges (one-third appointed by the president, one-third elected by Parliament, one-third elected by the ordinary and administrative supreme courts) Political parties and
leaders: Political pressure groups and leaders: the Roman Catholic Church; three major trade union confederations (Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro or CGIL [Sergio COFFERATI] which is left wing, Confederazione Italiana dei Sindacati Lavoratori or CISL [Sergio D'ANTONI] which is Catholic centrist, and Unione Italiana del Lavoro or UIL [Pietro LARIZZA] which is lay centrist); Italian manufacturers and merchants associations (Confindustria, Confcommercio); organized farm groups (Confcoltivatori, Confagricoltura) International organization participation: AfDB, AsDB, Australia Group, BIS, BSEC (observer), CCC, CDB (non-regional), CE, CEI, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, ECLAC, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, G- 7, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, LAIA (observer), MINURSO, MTCR, NAM (guest), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNIKOM, UNITAR, UNMIBH, UNMOGIP, UNTSO, UPU, WCL, WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC Diplomatic
representation in the US: Diplomatic
representation from the US: Flag description: three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side), white, and red; similar to the flag of Ireland, which is longer and is green (hoist side), white, and orange; also similar to the flag of the Cote d'Ivoire, which has the colors reversed—orange (hoist side), white, and green |
[Top] Economy—overview: Since World War II, the Italian economy has changed from one based on agriculture into a ranking industrial economy, with approximately the same total and per capita output as France and the UK. This basically capitalistic economy is still divided into a developed industrial north, dominated by private companies, and a less developed agricultural south, with large public enterprises and more than 20% unemployment. Most raw materials needed by industry and over 75% of energy requirements must be imported. In the second half of 1992, Rome became unsettled by the prospect of not qualifying to participate in EU plans for economic and monetary union later in the decade; thus, it finally began to address its huge fiscal imbalances. Subsequently, the government has adopted fairly stringent budgets, abandoned its inflationary wage indexation system, and started to scale back its generous social welfare programs, including pension and health care benefits. In December 1998, Italy adopted a budget compliant with the requirements of the European Monetary Union (EMU); representatives of government, labor, and employers agreed to an update of the 1993 "social pact," which has been widely credited with having brought Italy's inflation into conformity with EMU requirements. In 1999, Italy must adjust to the loss of an independent monetary policy, which it has used quite liberally in the past to help cope with external shocks. Italy also must work to stimulate employment, promote wage flexibility, and tackle the informal economy. GDP: purchasing power parity—$1.181 trillion (1998 est.) GDP—real growth rate: 1.5% (1998 est.) GDP—per capita: purchasing power parity—$20,800 (1998 est.) GDP—composition
by sector: Population below poverty line: NA% Household income or
consumption by percentage share: Inflation rate (consumer prices): 1.8% (1998 est.) Labor force: 23.193 million Labor force—by occupation: services 61%, industry 32%, agriculture 7% (1996) Unemployment rate: 12.5% (1998 est.) Budget: Industries: tourism, machinery, iron and steel, chemicals, food processing, textiles, motor vehicles, clothing, footwear, ceramics Industrial production growth rate: 0.5% (1996 est.) Electricity—production: 226.707 billion kWh (1996) Electricity—production
by source: Electricity—consumption: 264.007 billion kWh (1996) Electricity—exports: 800 million kWh (1996) Electricity—imports: 38.1 billion kWh (1996) Agriculture—products: fruits, vegetables, grapes, potatoes, sugar beets, soybeans, grain, olives; beef, dairy products; fish Exports: $243 billion (f.o.b., 1998) Exports—commodities: engineering products, textiles and clothing, production machinery, motor vehicles, transport equipment, chemicals; food, beverages and tobacco; minerals and nonferrous metals Exports—partners: Germany 16.4%, France 12.2%, US 7.9%, UK 7.1%, Spain 5.2%, Netherlands 2.8% (1997) Imports: $202 billion (f.o.b., 1998) Imports—commodities: engineering products, chemicals, transport equipment, energy products, minerals and nonferrous metals, textiles and clothing; food, beverages and tobacco Imports—partners: Germany 18.0%, France 13.2%, UK 6.7%, Netherlands 6.2%, US 5.0%, Belgium-Luxembourg 4.7% (1997) Debt—external: $45 billion (1996 est.) Economic aid—donor: ODA, $1.6 billion (1995) Currency: 1 Italian lira (Lit) = 100 centesimi Exchange rates:
Italian lire (Lit) per US$1—1,688.7 (January 1999),
1,736.2 (1998), 1,703.1 (1997), 1,542.9 (1996), 1,628.9 (1995),
1,612.4 (1994) Fiscal year: calendar year |
[Top] Telephones: 25.6 million (1996 est.) Telephone system:
modern, well-developed, fast; fully automated telephone,
telex, and data services Radio broadcast stations: AM 135, FM 28 (repeaters 1,840), shortwave 0 Radios: 45.7 million (1996 est.) Television broadcast stations: 6,317 (consisting of 117 public stations with two kW of power or more, about 5,300 low-power public stations, and about 900 low-power private stations, mostly in local service) (1997) Televisions: 17 million (1996 est.) |
[Top] Railways: Highways: Waterways: 2,400 km for various types of commercial traffic, although of limited overall value Pipelines: crude oil 1,703 km; petroleum products 2,148 km; natural gas 19,400 km Ports and harbors: Augusta (Sicily), Bagnoli, Bari, Brindisi, Gela, Genoa, La Spezia, Livorno, Milazzo, Naples, Porto Foxi, Porto Torres (Sardinia), Salerno, Savona, Taranto, Trieste, Venice Merchant marine: Airports: 136 (1998 est.) Airports—with
paved runways: Airports—with
unpaved runways: Heliports: 2 (1998 est.) |
[Top] Military branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, Carabinieri Military manpower—military age: 18 years of age Military manpower—availability:
Military manpower—fit
for military service: Military manpower—reaching
military age annually: Military expenditures—dollar figure: $21.095 billion (FY97) Military expenditures—percent of GDP: 1.9% (1995) |
[Top] Disputes—international: Italy and Slovenia made progress in resolving bilateral issues; Croatia and Italy made progress toward resolving a bilateral issue dating from World War II over property and ethnic minority rights Illicit drugs:
important gateway for and consumer of Latin American
cocaine and Southwest Asian heroin entering the European
market |
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