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:

South Italy
Italia meridionale (Italian)
Sud Italia (Italian)
Map of Italy, highlighting South Italy
CountryItaly
Regions
Area
 • Total73,223 km2 (28,272 sq mi)
Population
 • Estimate 
(2022)
13,430,686
Languages 
 – Official languageItalian
 – Official linguistic minorities[2]
 – Regional languages

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

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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

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

Regions

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Region Capital Inhabitants
  Abruzzo L'Aquila 1,269,860
  Apulia Bari 3,900,852
  Basilicata Potenza 536,659
  Calabria Catanzaro 1,841,300
  Campania Naples 5,592,175
  Molise Campobasso 289,840

Most populous municipalities

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Naples
 
Bari
 
Taranto
 
Reggio Calabria
 
Foggia

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

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

Economy

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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

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "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.