Insular Italy Italia insulare (Italian) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Country |  Italy |
| Regions |  Sardinia Sicily |
| Area | |
• Total | 49,801 km2 (19,228 sq mi) |
| Population (2025)[1] | |
• Total | 6,340,710 |
| • Density | 127.32/km2 (329.76/sq mi) |
Insular Italy (Italian:Italia insulare or justIsole,lit. 'Islands') is one of the five official statistical regions ofItaly used by theNational Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), afirst level NUTS region anda European Parliament constituency. Insular Italy encompasses two of thecountry's 20 regions:
Insular Italy occupies one sixth of the national territory in surface area. Territorially, both Sicily and Sardinia include several minor islands andarchipelagoes that are administratively dependent on the mother islands.
Sicily is the largest island in theMediterranean (25,708 km2) and one of the largest ofEurope, 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 theCampidano andNurra, in Sardinia, and thePlain 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 toMount Etna, Italy's highest non-Alpine peak and Europe's largest active volcano. Sardinia is home to theGennargentu mountain range.
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1861 | 3,017,528 | — |
| 1871 | 3,226,578 | +6.9% |
| 1881 | 3,613,604 | +12.0% |
| 1901 | 4,363,917 | +20.8% |
| 1911 | 4,679,936 | +7.2% |
| 1921 | 5,108,647 | +9.2% |
| 1931 | 4,889,727 | −4.3% |
| 1936 | 5,034,284 | +3.0% |
| 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[2][3] | ||
The population of Insular Italy totals 6,340,710 as of 2025,[4] 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 ofSardinia, 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 inSicily.
| Region | Capital | Inhabitants | Area (km²) | Density (inh/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sardinia | Cagliari | 1,561,339 | 24,099 | 65 |
| Sicily | Palermo | 4,779,371 | 25,832 | 185 |
Below is the list of the most populous municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants:[1]
| # | Municipality | Region | Inhabitants |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Palermo | Sicily | 625,956 |
| 2 | Catania | Sicily | 297,517 |
| 3 | Messina | Sicily | 216,928 |
| 4 | Cagliari | Sardinia | 146,627 |
| 5 | Sassari | Sardinia | 120,497 |
| 6 | Syracuse | Sicily | 115,636 |
| 7 | Marsala | Sicily | 79,693 |
| 8 | Ragusa | Sicily | 73,778 |
| 9 | Gela | Sicily | 70,341 |
| 10 | Quartu Sant'Elena | Sardinia | 68,108 |
| 11 | Vittoria | Sicily | 65,714 |
| 12 | Olbia | Sardinia | 61,658 |
| 13 | Caltanissetta | Sicily | 58,045 |
| 14 | Agrigento | Sicily | 55,227 |
| 15 | Trapani | Sicily | 54,887 |
| 16 | Modica | Sicily | 53,413 |
| 17 | Bagheria | Sicily | 52,904 |
| 18 | Acireale | Sicily | 50,579 |
Thegross 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.[5]
Theunemployment rate ofSicily is the highest in the country at 11.9%, while inSardinia between 2006-07 it dropped for the first time below 10%, reaching 8.6%, the lowest of all theMezzogiorno regions, excludingMolise andAbruzzo.
The low level of entrepreneurship in Sicily is tied to the localorganized 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 theItalian mainland and the lack of a proper territorial continuity (continuità territoriale). That condition has been reduced in Sardinia with the development ofinformation technologies likeTiscali,low-cost carriers likeRyanair and laws regarding fares and routes between the islands and mainland Italy.
population2 was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).
