pastures: 17%
forest and woodland: 22%
other: 19%

Irrigated land: 31,000 sq km (1989 est.)

Environment:
current issues: air pollution from industrial emissions such as sulfur
dioxide; coastal and inland rivers polluted from industrial and
agricultural effluents; acid rain damaging lakes; inadequate
industrial waste treatment and disposal facilities
natural hazards: regional risks include landslides, mudflows,
avalanches, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flooding; land subsidence
in Venice
international agreements: party to - Air Pollution, Air
Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Antarctic Treaty,
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental
Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping,
Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical
Timber 83, Wetlands; signed, but not ratified - Air Pollution-Sulphur
94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental
Protocol, Desertification

Note: strategic location dominating central Mediterranean as well as
southern sea and air approaches to Western Europe

@Italy:People

Population: 58,261,971 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 15% (female 4,352,325; male 4,603,083)
15-64 years: 68% (female 19,969,086; male 19,874,528)
65 years and over: 17% (female 5,630,747; male 3,832,202) (July 1995
est.)

Population growth rate: 0.21% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 10.89 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate: 9.78 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: 1.03 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 7.4 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 77.85 years
male: 74.67 years
female: 81.23 years (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.41 children born/woman (1995 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Italian(s)
adjective: Italian

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

Religions: Roman Catholic 98%, other 2%

Languages: Italian, 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: age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)
total popul