Italian Republic

National name: Repubblica Italiana

President: Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (1999)

Prime Minister: Silvio Berlusconi (2001)

Area: 116,305 sq mi (301,230 sq km)

Population (2003 est.): 57,998,353 (growth rate: ¨C0.1%); birth rate: 9.2/1000; infant mortality rate: 6.2/1000; density per sq mi: 499

Rome Colosseum (www.travel.it)

Capital and largest cities(1994 est.): Rome, 2,693,383

Other large cities: Milan, 1,561,438; Naples, 1,204,149; Turin, 952,736; Genoa, 706,754; Palermo, 694,749; Florence, 460,924; Bologna, 394,969; Catania, 372,212; Bari, 355,352; Venice, 306,439

Monetary units: Euro (formerly lira)

Languages: Italian; sm  all German-, French-, and Slovene-speaking minorities

Ethnicity/race: Italian (includes small clusters of German-, French-, and Slovene-Italians in the north and Albanian-Italians and Greek-Italians in the south), Sicilians, Sardinians

Religions: Roman Catholic 98%, other 2%

Venice Canals (http://aku-aku.com)

Literacy rate: 97% (1990)

Florence (www.toanthai.com)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2001 est.): $1.402 trillion; per capita $24,300. Real growth rate: 1.8%. Inflation: 2.7%. Unemployment: 10%. Arable land: 28.07%. Agriculture: fruits, vegetables, grapes, potatoes, sugar beets, soybeans, grain, olives; beef, dairy products; fish. Labor force: 23.6 million; services 63%, industry 32%, agriculture 5%. Industries: tourism, machinery, iron and steel, chemicals, food processing, textiles, motor vehicles, clothing, footwear, ceramics. Natural resources: mercury, potash, marble, sulfur, natural gas and crude oil reserves, fish, coal, arable land. Exports: $243 billion (f.o.b., 2001 est.): engineering products, textiles and clothing, production machinery, motor vehicles, transport equipment, chemicals; food, beverages and tobacco; minerals and nonferrous metals. Imports: $226 billion (f.o.b., 2001 est.): engineering products, chemicals, transport equipment, energy products, minerals and nonferrous metals, textiles and clothing; food, beverages and tobacco. Major trading partners: EU, U.S.

Pompeii (www.toanthai.com)

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 25 million (1999); mobile cellular: 20.5 million (1999). Radio broadcast stations: AM about 100, FM about 4,600, shortwave 9 (1998). Radios: 50.5 million (1997). Television broadcast stations: 6,317 (of which only 117 have 2 kW or more of transmitter power) (1997). Televisions: 30.3 million (1997). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 93 (Italy and Holy See) (2000). Internet users: 19.25 million (2001).

Transportation: Railways: total: 19,786 km (2001). Highways: total: 668,669 km; paved: 668,669 km (including 6,460 km of expressways); unpaved: 0 km (2001). Waterways: 2,400 km for various types of commercial traffic, although of limited overall value. 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. Airports: 135 (2001).

International disputes: Croatia and Italy are still trying to resolve bilateral property and ethnic minority rights dating from World War II.