For the territory and its history, see Southern Italy. For the EU constituency, see Southern Italy (European Parliament constituency).
South Italy
Statistical region
CountryItaly
RegionsList
Parts stylelist
P 1Abruzzo
P 2Apulia
P 3Basilicata
P 4Calabria
P 5Campania
P 6Molise
 – Official languageItalian
 – Official linguistic minorities[1]
 – Regional languages
Area total73799.56 km²
Population total13,339,994
Population as of2026

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 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).

Regions

RegionCapitalPopulation (2026)[2][3]Area (km²)[4]Density (inh/km²)
AbruzzoL'Aquila1,267,22210,831.84117.0
ApuliaBari3,865,27719,540.90197.8
BasilicataPotenza525,28110,073.3252.1
CalabriaCatanzaro1,827,57115,221.90120.1
CampaniaNaples5,568,70313,670.95407.3
MoliseCampobasso285,9404,460.6564.1

Demographics

As of 2026, the population is 13,339,994, of which 49% are male, and 51% are female. Minors make up 15.1% of the population, and seniors make up 24.1%.[5][6]

Historical population
YearPop.±%
18616,614,467—
18716,983,465+5.6%
18817,417,653+6.2%
19018,297,080+11.9%
19118,821,151+6.3%
19219,341,451+5.9%
19319,799,622+4.9%
193610,243,425+4.5%
195111,922,652+16.4%
196112,435,638+4.3%
197112,719,751+2.3%
198113,552,281+6.5%
199113,922,850+2.7%
200113,914,865−0.1%
201113,977,431+0.4%
202113,512,083−3.3%

ISTAT[7][8]

Largest cities

Below is the list of the most populous cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants:

CityRegionPopulation (2026)[9][10]
NaplesCampania905,050
BariApulia316,248
TarantoApulia185,112
Reggio CalabriaCalabria167,925
FoggiaApulia145,078
SalernoCampania125,323
Giugliano in CampaniaCampania125,018
PescaraAbruzzo118,487
AndriaApulia96,520
LecceApulia94,387
BarlettaApulia92,067
CatanzaroCalabria82,708
BrindisiApulia81,181
Torre del GrecoCampania78,839
PozzuoliCampania74,665
Corigliano-RossanoCalabria74,403
CasoriaCampania73,257
CasertaCampania72,757
L'AquilaAbruzzo70,803
AltamuraApulia70,336
Lamezia TermeCalabria67,005
CosenzaCalabria63,449
PotenzaBasilicata63,403
Castellammare di StabiaCampania61,937
AfragolaCampania61,581
MateraBasilicata59,368
AcerraCampania58,585
CrotoneCalabria58,136
Marano di NapoliCampania57,631
MolfettaApulia57,016
CerignolaApulia56,711
BeneventoCampania55,330
TraniApulia54,731
MontesilvanoAbruzzo53,557
BisceglieApulia53,242
ManfredoniaApulia53,015
BitontoApulia52,868
AvellinoCampania51,819
TeramoAbruzzo51,400
PorticiCampania51,213

Immigration

As of 2025, of the known countries of birth of 13,169,842 residents, the most numerous are: Italy (12,447,907 – 94.5%), Romania (107,468 – 0.8%).[11][12]

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.[13]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Legge 482". Webcitation.org. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 2015-10-17.
  2. ^ "Resident population by age, sex and marital status on 1st January 2026". demo.istat.it. ISTAT. 2026-01-01. Retrieved 2026-04-01. (On the search form, choose the statistical region of the municipality in the Area section, the Region, the Province, and the name of the Municipality)
  3. ^ "Resident population by age, sex and marital status on 1st January 2026". demo.istat.it. ISTAT. 2026-01-01. Retrieved 2026-04-01.The file URL linking on technical dataset.
  4. ^ "Superficie di Comuni Province e Regioni italiane al 9 ottobre 2011" (in Italian). ISTAT
  5. ^ "Resident population by age, sex and marital status on 1st January 2026". demo.istat.it. ISTAT. 2026-01-01. Retrieved 2026-04-01. (On the search form, choose the statistical region of the municipality in the Area section, the Region, the Province, and the name of the Municipality)
  6. ^ "Resident population by age, sex and marital status on 1st January 2026". demo.istat.it. ISTAT. 2026-01-01. Retrieved 2026-04-01.The file URL linking on technical dataset.
  7. ^ "Popolazione residente dei comuni. Censimenti dal 1861 al 1991" [Resident population of the municipalities. Censuses from 1861 to 1991] (in Italian). ISTAT. Archived from the original on 2025-11-12.
  8. ^ "Resident population - Time series". ISTAT
  9. ^ "Resident population by age, sex and marital status on 1st January 2026". demo.istat.it. ISTAT. 2026-01-01. Retrieved 2026-04-01. (On the search form, choose the statistical region of the municipality in the Area section, the Region, the Province, and the name of the Municipality)
  10. ^ "Resident population by age, sex and marital status on 1st January 2026". demo.istat.it. ISTAT. 2026-01-01. Retrieved 2026-04-01.The file URL linking on technical dataset.
  11. ^ "Resident population by sex, municipality and individual citizenship or country of birth from year 2002". demo.istat.it. ISTAT. 2025-01-01. Retrieved 2025-02-27. (Click on 'View by country of birth', and on the search form, choose the statistical region of the municipality in the Area section, the Region, the Province, and the name of the Municipality)
  12. ^ "Resident population by sex, municipality and individual citizenship or country of birth from year 2002". demo.istat.it. ISTAT. 2025-01-01. Retrieved 2025-02-27.The file URL linking on technical dataset.
  13. ^ "Regional GDP per capita ranged from 30% to 263% of the EU average in 2018". Eurostat