Italy

Elders in numbers

of people are 65 or older

25.1%

people aged 65 or older

14.8M

will be 65 or older in 2050

36.8%

is how long people live after 60, on average

25.1 years

of people 65+ live alone

28.3%

women 35.4%, men 19.5%

of people 65+ live in collective quarters: care homes, hospitals, hostels and the like

1.6%

Sources: World Bank, 2025; World Bank projection for 2050; WHO, 2023; UN, 2021; UN, 2011 census

Compare with the world

Languages

40 languages, 25 of them endangered

• GardiolSeverely endangered
• Judæo-ItalianSeverely endangered
• ArpitanDefinitely endangered
• CimbrianDefinitely endangered
• EmilianDefinitely endangered
• FaetarDefinitely endangered
• LadinDefinitely endangered
• LigurianDefinitely endangered
• LogudoreseDefinitely endangered
• MòchenoDefinitely endangered
• RomagnolDefinitely endangered
• SlavomolisanoDefinitely endangered

Languages and their status: Glottolog v5.3, CC BY 4.0. Names: Wikidata.

UNESCO intangible heritage

• Italian cooking, between sustainability and biocultural diversity2025
• Art of dry stone construction, knowledge and techniques2024
• Manual bell ringing2024
• The practice of opera singing in Italy2023
• Traditional irrigation: knowledge, technique, and organization2023
• Transhumance, the seasonal droving of livestock2023
• Tocatì, a shared programme for the safeguarding of traditional games and sports2022
• Lipizzan horse breeding traditions2022

List and years: ich.unesco.org