South Italy

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South Italy
Italia meridionale (Italian)
Sud Italia (Italian)
Italia meridionale.svg
Country Italy
Regions
Area
  Total73,223 km2 (28,272 sq mi)
Population
[1]
  Estimate 
(2022)
13,430,686
Languages 
 – Official language Italian
 Official linguistic minorities [2]
 – Regional languages

South Italy (Italian : Italia meridionale or Sud Italia) is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), a first level NUTS region and a European Parliament constituency. South Italy encompasses six of the country's 20 regions:

Contents

South Italy is defined only for statistical and electoral purposes. It should not be confused with the Mezzogiorno, or southern Italy, which refers to the areas of the former Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (once including the southern half of the Italian peninsula and Sicily) with the usual addition of the Western Mediterranean island of Sardinia. The latter and Sicily form a distinct statistical region, called Insular Italy.

Geography

South Italy borders central Italy to the northwest, while it is washed by the Adriatic Sea to the northeast, the Ionian Sea to the southeast and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the southwest.

The territory of south Italy is predominantly hilly and mountainous. The largest plains are the Tavoliere delle Puglie (second largest plain on the Italian peninsula), the Tavoliere salentino, the Campania plain, the Sele plain, the Metaponto plain, the Sibari plain and the Gioia Tauro plain. It is crossed from north to south by the Apennine Mountains, whose highest mountain is the Gran Sasso d'Italia (2,912 m or 9,554 ft).

Demography

In 2022, the population resident in south Italy amounts to 13,430,686 inhabitants. [1]

Regions

RegionCapitalInhabitants
Flag of Abruzzo.svg  Abruzzo L'Aquila 1,269,860
Flag of Apulia.svg  Apulia Bari 3,900,852
Flag of Basilicata.svg  Basilicata Potenza 536,659
Flag of Calabria.svg  Calabria Catanzaro 1,841,300
Flag of Campania.svg  Campania Naples 5,592,175
Flag of Molise.svg  Molise Campobasso 289,840

Most populous municipalities

Naples Naples from the Castello Sant Elmo with Abbazia San Martino the port and the Vesuv.jpg
Naples
Bari Il Fortino visto da Lungomare Imperatore Augusto 2.jpg
Bari
Taranto Ponte girevole.JPG
Taranto
Reggio Calabria ReggioCal .jpg
Reggio Calabria
Foggia Foggia, Apulia.jpg
Foggia

Below is the list of the population residing in 2022 in municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants: [1]

#MunicipalityRegionInhabitants
1 Naples Flag of Campania.svg  Campania 913,462
2 Bari Flag of Apulia.svg  Apulia 316,015
3 Taranto Flag of Apulia.svg  Apulia 188,098
4 Reggio Calabria Flag of Calabria.svg  Calabria 170,951
5 Foggia Flag of Apulia.svg  Apulia 145,348
6 Salerno Flag of Campania.svg  Campania 127,186
7 Giugliano in Campania Flag of Campania.svg  Campania 123,679
8 Pescara Flag of Abruzzo.svg  Abruzzo 118,657
9 Andria Flag of Apulia.svg  Apulia 97,146
10 Lecce Flag of Apulia.svg  Apulia 94,517
11 Barletta Flag of Apulia.svg  Apulia 92,427
12 Catanzaro Flag of Calabria.svg  Calabria 84,670
13 Brindisi Flag of Apulia.svg  Apulia 82,694
14 Torre del Greco Flag of Campania.svg  Campania 80,508
15 Pozzuoli Flag of Campania.svg  Campania 76,331
16 Corigliano-Rossano Flag of Calabria.svg  Calabria 74,066
17 Casoria Flag of Campania.svg  Campania 74,021
18 Caserta Flag of Campania.svg  Campania 72,805
19 Altamura Flag of Apulia.svg  Apulia 69,880
20 L'Aquila Flag of Abruzzo.svg  Abruzzo 69,558
21 Lamezia Terme Flag of Calabria.svg  Calabria 67,026
22 Potenza Flag of Basilicata.svg  Basilicata 64,406
23 Cosenza Flag of Calabria.svg  Calabria 63,760
24 Castellammare di Stabia Flag of Campania.svg  Campania 62,772
25 Afragola Flag of Campania.svg  Campania 61,712
26 Matera Flag of Basilicata.svg  Basilicata 59,685
27 Crotone Flag of Calabria.svg  Calabria 58,445
28 Acerra Flag of Campania.svg  Campania 58,322
29 Marano di Napoli Flag of Campania.svg  Campania 57,777
30 Molfetta Flag of Apulia.svg  Apulia 57,329
31 Cerignola Flag of Apulia.svg  Apulia 56,978
32 Benevento Flag of Campania.svg  Campania 56,201
33 Trani Flag of Apulia.svg  Apulia 54,941
34 Manfredonia Flag of Apulia.svg  Apulia 53,902
35 Bisceglie Flag of Apulia.svg  Apulia 53,534
36 Montesilvano Flag of Abruzzo.svg  Abruzzo 53,275
37 Bitonto Flag of Apulia.svg  Apulia 53,168
38 Avellino Flag of Campania.svg  Campania 52,198
39 Portici Flag of Campania.svg  Campania 52,054
40 Teramo Flag of Abruzzo.svg  Abruzzo 51,548
41 Cava de' Tirreni Flag of Campania.svg  Campania 50,539
42 Ercolano Flag of Campania.svg  Campania 50,124

Economy

The gross domestic product (GDP) of the region was 271.1 billion euro in 2018, accounting for 15.4% of Italy's economic output. The GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 19,300 euro, or 64% of the EU27 average in the same year. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Bilancio demografico e popolazione residente per sesso al 31 dicembre 2022" (in Italian). Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  2. "Legge 482". Webcitation.org. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  3. "Regional GDP per capita ranged from 30% to 263% of the EU average in 2018". Eurostat.