Exact population: 58,133,509 (July 2006 est.)

Literacy: Total population: 98.6%; male: 99%; female: 98.3%

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

Area: Total: 301,230 sq km; land: 294,020 sq km; water: 7,210 sq km; note: includes Sardinia and Sicily

Land boundaries: Total: 1,932.2 km; border countries: Austria 430 km, France 488 km, Holy See (Vatican City) 3.2 km, San Marino 39 km, Slovenia 232 km, Switzerland 740 km

Terrain: Mostly rugged and mountainous; some plains, coastal lowlands

Extremes: Lowest point: Mediterranean Sea 0 m; highest point: Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco) de Courmayeur 4,748 m (a secondary peak of Mont Blanc)

Imports: Germany 18%, France 10.9%, Netherlands 5.9%, Spain 4.6%, Belgium 4.4%, UK 4.3%, China 4.2% (2004)

Exports: Germany 13.6%, France 12.3%, US 8%, Spain 7.2%, UK 6.9%, Switzerland 4.2% (2004)

Industries: Tourism, machinery, iron and steel, chemicals, food processing, textiles, motor vehicles, clothing, footwear, ceramics

Source: CIA World Factbook