Page "Demographics of Italy" Paragraph 2

Italy has 60, 626, 442 inhabitants according to 1 / 1 / 2011 municipal records ( Anagrafe ).

Its population density, at 201 / km² ( 520 / sq.

mile ), is higher than that of most Western European countries.

However the distribution of the population is widely uneven.

The most densely populated areas are the Po Valley ( that accounts for almost a half of the national population ) and the metropolitan areas of Rome and Naples, while vast regions such as the Alps and Appennines highlands, the plateaus of Basilicata and the island of Sardinia are very sparsely populated.