Population and Settlement

Population

The current population of Italy is 60,770, 000. Italy has the fourth largest population in Europe, and the 23rd largest population in the world. With a population density of 200 persons per square kilometer, it is the fifth highest in Europe. The population of Italy has mainly been affected by its high birth rates, which is 9.78 births per 1,000 people. It also has a relatively high life expectancy and low death rate of 9.82 deaths per 1,000 people. The largest populated cities in Italy include, Rome, Milan, Naples, Turin, Palermo, and Genoa. The growth rate of population in Italy is 0.68% and the net migration rate is 7.5%.

 

Settlement

The first evidence of humans in Italy was approximately 100,000 years ago. These humans were not like the humans we know today, the humans back then were called home erectus. They were less advanced than humans today. The first evidence of modern humans, also known as homo sapiens, was around 10,000 BC.
The First significant settlement into Italy was from the Greeks. The first time the Greeks came over to Italy was about 5,000 years ago in 3000 BC. The Greeks settled in the southernmost parts of the Italian peninsula. Other nations such as, Etruscans and early Romans, settled in the northern part of Italy. The roman republic ruled most of the Mediterranean until 576 AD.

As  of 2011, the foreign born population in Italy is subdivided as: Europe (53.4%), Asia (16.8%), North Africa (14.8%), the Americas (8.1%), Sub-Saharan Africa (6.7%) and other lands (0.2%). The distribution of the foreign born population in Italy is extremely uneven, with 86.45% living in the northern and central parts of the country, and 13.55% living in the south. There are about 4.8 million foreign-born residents living in Italy today, making up about 8% of the total population.