Population: 58 057 477 (2004 est.)

Age structure:

0-14 years: 14% (male 4 192 662; female 3 955 857)

15-64 years: 68% (male 19 265 714; female 19 369 554)

65 years and over: 18% (male 4 098 526; female 5 900 435) (July 1998 est.)

Population growth rate: -0.04% (1998 est.)

Birth rate: 8.71 births/1 000 population

Death rate: 10.04 deaths/1 000 population

Net migration rate: 0.21 migrant(s)/1 000 population (1998 est.)

Sex ratio:

at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female

under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female

15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.69 male(s)/female (1998 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 6.4 deaths/1 000 live births (1998 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:

total population: 78.38 years

male: 75.26 years

female: 81.7 years (1998 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.28 children born/woman (2006 est.)

Nationality:

noun: Italian(s)

adjective: Italian

Ethnic groups: Italian (includes small clusters of German- French- and Slovene-Italians in the north and Albanian-Italians and Greek-Italians in the south)

Religions: Roman Catholic 90% other 10%

Languages:Italian (official), German (parts of Trentino-Alto Adige region are predominantly German speaking), French (small French-speaking minority in Valle d'Aosta region), Slovene (Slovene-speaking minority in the Trieste-Gorizia area) Literacy:

definition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 97%

male: 98%

female: 96% (1990 est.)