Insular Italy

Insular Italy Italia insulare (Italian)
Composition	Sardinia Sicily
Area
• Total	49,801 km2 (19,228 sq mi)
Population
• Estimate  (2022)	6,377,044

Insular Italy (Italian: Italia insulare or just Isole, lit. 'Islands') 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. Insular Italy encompasses two of the country's 20 regions: Sardinia and Sicily.

Geography

Insular Italy occupies one sixth of the national territory in surface area. Territorially, both Sicily and Sardinia include several minor islands and archipelagoes that are administratively dependent on the mother islands.

Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean (25,708 km²) and one of the largest of Europe, while Sardinia is only slightly less extensive (24,090 km²). The lowlands are generally limited in the geographic region and generally appear as narrow coastal belts. The only exceptions are the Campidano and Nurra, in Sardinia, and the Plain of Catania, in Sicily, which extend 1200 km² and 430 km,² respectively. The rest of the area is prevalently hilly, with hills occupying 70% of the territory.

Sicily is home to Mount Etna, Italy's highest non-Alpine peak and Europe's largest active volcano. Sardinia is home to the Gennargentu mountain range.

Demographics

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1861	3,018,000	—
1871	3,226,000	+6.9%
1881	3,613,000	+12.0%
1901	4,364,000	+20.8%
1911	4,680,000	+7.2%
1921	5,108,000	+9.1%
1931	4,890,000	−4.3%
1936	5,034,000	+2.9%
1951	5,762,772	+14.5%
1961	6,140,363	+6.6%
1971	6,154,515	+0.2%
1981	6,501,053	+5.6%
1991	6,614,634	+1.7%
2001	6,600,871	−0.2%
2011	6,642,266	+0.6%
2021	6,420,742	−3.3%
Source: ISTAT

The population of Insular Italy totals around 6.4 million residents, just over one-tenth of the national population and by far the lowest of all the country's macro-regions. While it is the smallest macro-region in area, the region also has the lowest population density. This is because of the scarce population of Sardinia, one of the least densely populated parts of Italy at only around one-third of Italy's average population density. The islands are of roughly the same size but three quarters of the region's population lives in Sicily. In 2022, the population resident in Insular Italy amounts to 6,377,044 inhabitants.

Regions

Region	Capital	Inhabitants
Sardinia	Cagliari	1,575,028
Sicily	Palermo	4,802,016

Most populous municipalities

Palermo

Catania

Messina

Cagliari

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

#	Municipality	Region	Inhabitants
1	Palermo	Sicily	630,167
2	Catania	Sicily	298,762
3	Messina	Sicily	218,786
4	Cagliari	Sardinia	148,117
5	Sassari	Sardinia	121,021
6	Syracuse	Sicily	116,244
7	Marsala	Sicily	79,809
8	Ragusa	Sicily	73,159
9	Gela	Sicily	71,217
10	Quartu Sant'Elena	Sardinia	68,585
11	Vittoria	Sicily	63,316
12	Olbia	Sardinia	61,048
13	Caltanissetta	Sicily	58,532
14	Trapani	Sicily	55,559
15	Agrigento	Sicily	55,512
16	Modica	Sicily	53,503
17	Bagheria	Sicily	52,928
18	Acireale	Sicily	50,515
19	Mazara del Vallo	Sicily	50,039

Economy

The gross domestic product (GDP) of the region was 123.9 billion euro in 2018, accounting for 7% of Italy's economic output. The GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 18,500 euro or 62% of the EU27 average in the same year.

Socio-economic situation

The unemployment rate of Sicily is the highest in the country at 11.9%, while in Sardinia between 2006-07 it dropped for the first time below 10%, reaching 8.6%, the lowest of all the Mezzogiorno regions, excluding Molise and Abruzzo.

The low level of entrepreneurship in Sicily is tied to the local organized criminal activity, and in Sardinia, it results from the rather expensive operating expenses (electricity, transportation etc.), which are 20-50% higher than other regions because of its peripheral location from the Italian mainland and the lack of a proper territorial continuity (continuità territoriale). That condition has been reduced in Sardinia with the development of information technologies like Tiscali low-cost carriers like Ryanair and laws regarding fares and routes between the islands and mainland Italy.

See also

• List of islands of Italy
• Italian Islands (European Parliament constituency)
• National Institute of Statistics (Italy)
• NUTS statistical regions of Italy
• Italian NUTS level 1 regions:
  • Northwest Italy
  • Northeast Italy
  • South Italy
• Northern Italy
• Central Italy
• Southern Italy