Italy Population
In October 2007, Italy officially reached more than 59.5 million persons. Italy currently has the fourth largest population in the European Union, and the 23rd largest population in the world. Italy’s population density at 196.1 persons per kilometre is the fifth highest in the European Union. The highest density is in Northern Italy, as one third of the country contains almost half of the Italian population. After World War II, Italy saw an economic boom which lead to rural population moving to the cities, and in the same time it turned from a nation characterized by massive emigration to a net immigrant-receiving country. High fertility persisted until the 70s when it plunged below replacement so as of 2007, one in five Italians was pensioners. Despite this, thanks mainly to the immigration of 80s and 90s, in 2000s Italy saw natural population growth for the first time in years.
