Rural population in Italy
Italy: Rural population was 17.86 million in 2025. ▼ Falling
Rural population in Italy, 1960–2025
Source: World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN).
Analysis
The most recent figure for rural population in Italy is 17.86 million, measured in 2025. That is the lowest value across all 66 years on record.
That represents a change of down 0.3% on the previous year and down 2.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, rural population in Italy peaked at 20.44 million in 1960 and was at its lowest, 17.86 million, in 2025.
Italy ranks 31st of 215 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 66 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 19.86 million | 19.25 million | 20.44 million | 10 |
| 1970s | 18.90 million | 18.73 million | 19.13 million | 10 |
| 1980s | 18.76 million | 18.70 million | 18.86 million | 10 |
| 1990s | 18.85 million | 18.72 million | 18.91 million | 10 |
| 2000s | 18.81 million | 18.64 million | 19.03 million | 10 |
| 2010s | 18.50 million | 18.21 million | 19.01 million | 10 |
| 2020s | 17.99 million | 17.86 million | 18.12 million | 6 |
Countries ranked near Italy
More agriculture & rural data for Italy
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 52.70 billion current US$ (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 2.1% (2025)
- Rural population growth -0.3% (2025)
- Rural population 30.3% (2025)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 1.5% (2024)
- Agricultural raw materials exports 0.6% (2024)
- Agriculture as a share of GDP vs. GDP per capita 2.1% (2025)
- Share of GDP from agriculture 2.1% (2025)
- Land under cereal production 3.05 million hectares (2023)
- Cereal production 15.45 million metric tons (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is rural population in Italy?
- Rural population in Italy was 17.86 million in 2025, according to World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN).
- What is the highest rural population recorded in Italy?
- The highest recorded value was 20.44 million in 1960.
- What is the lowest rural population recorded in Italy?
- The lowest recorded value was 17.86 million in 2025.
- How does Italy rank for rural population?
- Italy ranks 31st out of 215 countries with data for 2025.
- Is rural population rising or falling in Italy?
- Over the last ten years it is down 2.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Italy data come from?
- The figures come from World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN), published as part of Rural population. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 66 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Rural population refers to people living in rural areas as defined by national statistical offices. It is calculated as the difference between total population and urban population. Aggregation of urban and rural population may not add up to total population because of different country coverages.