The area of Italy is 301.2 thousand square kilometers. km In administrative-territorial terms, the country is divided into 20 regions, and they, in turn, into 95 provinces, and those – into 8 thousand communes.
Italy occupies a key position in the Mediterranean on the way from the countries of the Middle East with their richest oil fields to the industrial areas of Western Europe, whose industry consumes Middle Eastern oil.
The peculiarity of the economic – and political-geographical position of Italy is that on its territory there are independent states: the Vatican – the center of the Roman Catholic Church, the residence of the Pope and the Republic of San Marino. With Italy, these states are connected by close economic relations. Both countries use the banknotes of Italy. San Marino is in a customs and postal union with Italy. For refusing to issue its own banknotes and organize the customs service, as well as for the obligation not to allow the construction of gambling houses on its territory, San Marino receives annual monetary compensation from Italy in accordance with the 1953 treaty.
Millions of tourists and pilgrims seeking to visit the Vatican and San Marino spend a lot of money in Italy, bringing huge revenues to the country.
Population. In 2000, 57.4 million people lived in Italy. Italians make up 94% of the population. There are also Friuli (450,000 in the provinces of Udina Pordenons), Tyroleans (250,000 in the province of Bolzano), Franco-Provençals (90,000 live near Trieste), Slovenes (100,000), Albanians, and Greeks.
Italy until the early 1970s was characterized by faster population growth rates than in most other Western European countries and mass emigration. Currently, the population is not growing, but, on the contrary, is decreasing, the rate of annual decline is 0.11%.
Since the end of the XIX century, Italy was distinguished by large emigration, generated by high agrarian overpopulation and mass unemployment. In total, over the past 100 years, more than 20 million people have left Italy.
The territory is densely populated, the average population density in 2000 was 196 people per 1 sq. km. However, the population density varies greatly between the highly urbanized industrial areas of Lombardy (375 people per 1 sq. km), Campania (425 people per 1 sq. km), Greater Naples (up to 1000 people per 1 sq. km), up to 40-70 people. per 1 sq. km in Sardinia.
Official statistics do not divide the population into urban and rural. If we conditionally consider settlements with a population of more than 20 thousand as cities, then the townspeople make up 67%. Major cities are scattered in different parts of the country. 1/3 of all inhabitants of the country live in them. More than half of all major cities (24) are in Northern Italy. Here, almost the entire space from Turin (4.3 million people) to Milan (4.2 million people) and further to Bergamo is an almost continuous urbanized territory.
In central Italy, the largest cities are Rome (2.7 million people) and Naples (3.0 million people).
In the service sector, the largest number of economically active population is employed – 60%, in industry – 32%, in agriculture – 8%.
Italy is characterized by a constantly high level of unemployment, in
1999 – 12.2%.
The average life expectancy in 2000 for women is 81.7 years, for men – 75.3 years.
State system and political parties. Italy is a parliamentary republic. The head of state is the president, elected by the parliament and representatives of the regions for 7 years (since 1999, C. Ciampi).
Legislative power belongs to the parliament, elected for 5 years under a mixed system. It consists of two chambers: the Senate of the Republic (322 senators) and the Chamber of Deputies (630).
The highest executive body is the Council of Ministers headed by the Chairman (since 2001 S. Berlusconi).
A number of political parties play an important role in the political life of the country. The Democratic Party of the Left (DPLS) was created on February 3
1991 on the basis of the Italian Communist Party (founded on January 21, 1921), which announced the termination of its activities at the XX Congress (1991). In 1992, the party had 1 million members. The governing body of the party is the National Council. In terms of the number of voters, it is the largest political party in Italy.
The Italian People’s Party (INP), the successor to the Christian Democratic Party, the former largest party, is gradually emerging from a severe crisis after its defeat in the 1994 parliamentary elections.
In March 1995, over the question of a coalition with right-wing parties – Forza Italia and the National Alliance – the PPI split into two equal parts: “left” and “right”.
At the extraordinary congress of the INP (July 1995), the right wing announced the creation of a new party, the United Christian Democrats.
The Northern League – Federal Italy – was created in 1982 and has about 70 thousand people. It mainly operates in the north of Italy. The main program goal: federalism and protection of the interests of the highly productive North. Now the task is to transform the Northern League from a regional to a national one.
The National Alliance (NA) was established on January 27, 1995 on the basis of the self-dissolving neo-fascist party Italian Social Movement – National Right Forces. At the founding congress of the NA, a break with the fascist and neo-fascist ideology was declared. The new party has 90,000 members and is guided by the following principles: adherence to the Catholic Church, protection of the individual, life, family. This is the fourth largest party in terms of the number of votes cast for it in the elections.
The remaining political parties have either left the political scene or no longer represent a significant force and are not able to play a significant role in the internal political life of the country.
The political situation in the country is complicated, which is associated with the deterioration of the economic situation.
In Italy, separatist sentiments in the northwest are strong. The political forces of this part of the country are in favor of creating an independent state – Padania.
Minerals. For the successful development of the economy, its provision with natural resources, primarily minerals, is of great importance.
Italy is very under-resourced and unevenly provided with raw materials and energy resources. Their deposits are mostly small, often the deposits are inconvenient for development.
Italy’s energy resources meet its energy needs by only 17%. There is an acute shortage of coal. In Sardinia, Tuscany, Umbria, Calobria there are deposits of brown and hard coal. Limited oil reserves in Sicily, the Padana Plain, and the east coast of Central Italy (about 100 million tons) provide only 2 percent of Italy’s oil needs.
There are natural gas deposits on the Padan Plain and its underwater extension – the continental shelf of the Adriatic Sea.
Natural gas has also been discovered in the Northern, Central and Southern Apennines and Sicily, with its own reserves, Italy provides almost 46% of its natural gas needs.
There are small deposits of iron ore in Italy. Its production has been going on for 2700 years, and now it has been preserved only in Aosta and on the island of Elba (total reserves of 54 million tons).
Italy is much richer in polymetallic ores, in which lead and zinc with an admixture of silver and other metals are present.
Italy occupies one of the first places in the world in terms of reserves of mercury ore – cinnabar, lying in the bowels of the Amiata volcanic massif in Tuscany. In the same area, there are significant reserves of pyrite.
Bauxite is being developed in Puglia. In Sardinia there are antimony ores. In Liguria and in Central Italy there are deposits of manganese.
The bowels of Italy are rich in building materials – marble, granite, tuff and others.
In Carrara (Tuscany), the famous white Carrara marble is mined, which was used by the ancient Romans to create many sculptures and finish buildings.
Italy’s rivers have long been used to produce electricity.
The total reserves of hydropower resources of Italy amount to more than 56 billion kW, more than 60% of them are concentrated in the Alps.