What is Italy Square? Population of Italy

Italy is a European country located on the Apennine peninsula. Many people easily recognize on the map the Italian "boot". In the northern part, it borders Austria and Switzerland, in the northwestern part - with France, and in the east - with Slovenia. What is the area of this country? How many people live here? And what are the other features of Italy?

Geography of the country

The area of Italy is more than 300 thousand square meters. Km. The population is about 60 million. However, recently this figure is decreasing. On the Italian territory there are as many as four active volcanoes. It's Vesuvius, Etna, Vulcano, and also Stromboli. The climate of the country is subtropical and Mediterranean. Winter in Italy is short and damp. Summer, on the other hand, is very hot and dry.

Winter temperatures rarely fall below zero degrees, in summer - rises to 25-30 degrees. The temperature is very dependent on the altitude of the terrain above sea level. Even in the vicinity of Rome and Turin, which gently rise to the foothills, it is always a little colder than in the central parts of these cities. This picture is even more pronounced in the Alps. On the tops of the mountains lies snow, and at the foot almost all year round fruit citrus fruits.

In the south of the country, from March to October, hot winds from the Sahara Desert - "Sirocco" are blowing. They make the air dry and hot, and the temperature rises to 35 degrees Celsius. On the island of Sicily, the climate is also Mediterranean. The only differences are a slightly cooler winter and a slightly hotter summer. Rainfall in Sicily falls a little, most of it in the period from October to March. The whole of Italy is surrounded by the seas, so the air is almost everywhere damp.

A fairly large area of Italy on the east side is washed by the Adriatic Sea. In the south are the Mediterranean and Adriatic seas. And from the western part of the coast of the country are washed by the Ligurian, Tyrrhenian, and Mediterranean seas.

Mountains and rivers

In the northern part of the country are the Alps. The highest mountain peak is Mont Blanc. Its height is 4807 m. And between the Alpine mountains and the Apennines is the Padanskaya Plain. The area of Italy, occupied by the Padan Plain, is as much as 46 thousand square meters. Km.

Quite a lot in Italy and the rivers. The main ones are Adige and Po. They are in the northern part of the country, their waters are carried in the warm Adriatic Sea. And on the Apennine peninsula, the Tiber and Arno rivers flow.

Italy is also famous for its lakes. The largest of them are Como, Lugano, Garda, Bolsena, Bracciano, and also Lago Maggiore.

Italian Forests

What area of Italy is occupied by forests? In the past half century, this indicator is becoming more and more. In all of history three forest inventories have been made here. 11 million hectares - to this figure is approaching the forest area. But some of the regions can not be called wooded. For example, in Sicily forests are only about 4%.

Reserves

A lot of national parks have been created on the territory of Italy. The area of Italy in thousand km2, occupied by reserves, is about 200. On the territory of the Alps are the reserves of Gran Paradiso and Stelvio. In the Apennines is the National Park of Abruzzo. Natural objects protected by the state are glaciers, oak and pine forests, fauna.

Regions of Italy

The area of Italy is divided into 20 regions. If you visit even a few of them, you can not say with certainty about the knowledge of this country. After all, each of them has its own age-old traditions, cuisine, historical secrets. Five of these regions are endowed with a special status. Each of the 20 regions, in turn, is divided into 110 provinces, each of which consists of communes. The total area of Italy is 8101 communes. The largest Italian cities are Rome, Naples, Turin, and also Milan.

Population

Most of Italy's area is inhabited, of course, by the Italians - more than 96% of them. The remaining 4% are representatives of other nationalities. In the north, in the border area, you can meet the Romansh. Arabs and North Americans make up 0.9%. The Germans - 0.4%. The same number lives in Austrians in Italy. The Italo-Albanians make up 0.8%.

Economy

Italy is considered a developed country both in relation to the agrarian sector and in production. The leading industrial areas of Italy are chemical production, engineering, metallurgy, and light industry. In addition, Italian producers of citrus, tomato and olive are the largest in Europe.

Tourism is developing here. The annual flow of tourists to Italy is about 50 million. The area and population of Italy allow such a flow of guests to be accepted, providing them with a hearty welcome. The indicator of the annual national product per capita is 30 thousand dollars.

Religious composition of the population

The religious composition of the population in Italy is as follows. The main number are Christians (most of whom are Roman Catholics, and religious minorities are represented by Protestant communities and Jehovah's Witnesses). The total number of Christians in Italy is about 80%. The remaining 20% are atheists or agnostics.

Those who are planning a trip to Italy will be interested to know that there are no homeless animals in this country, and 60% of the entire cultural heritage of the planet is on its territory.