MORE ITALIANS

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 71, 21 September 1936, Page 9

MORE ITALIANS

POPULATION GROWTH

EVIDENCE OF CENSUS

On April 21, 1936, there were 42,438,104 Italians resident in this country, writes the Rome correspondent of the "Christian Science Monitor." This is the figure revealed by the first provisional statistics of ■•the national Census held in Italy on the night of April 21, Italy's Labour Day, and the birthday of Rome. This figure, however, does not include the soldiers and workmen on service on that date in East Africa, Libya, and the Dodecannese Islands, whose number is not revealed for military reasons, nor any persons who were temporarily absent from the country, but who would be back in Italy before the end of July. The number of soldiers and workmen serving in Italy's African and eastern Mediterranean possessions on April 21 may be estimated at about 500,000. This figure brings the present total population of Italy to just under 43,000,000, compared with 41,761,671 at the preceding Census of 1931. There has been, therefore, an increase of the Italian population of about 2,000,000 in five years, which makes an average of 400,000 per annum. The number of Italians living in foreign countries is estimated at about 10,000,000. On the eye of the proclamation of the Fascist Empire, there were 53,000,000 Italians living in this country and abroad. The population of the Italian colonies and possessions is not included in this figure, A MILLION IN ROME. Rome is the largest city of Italy with 1,178,491 inhabitants, against just over 1,000,000 five years ago, an increase of 17.2 per cent. Milan, the most important industrial centre, is the second largest city, having also reached the million mark, With 1,114,104 inhabitants. There are twenty other Italian cities, whose population exceeds 100,000. Naples, Turin, and Genoa have all more than 500,000 inhabitants. The increase in the, population of Naples, hitherto regarded as the most prolific Italian town, has been surprisingly small, being now 876,094, against 839,390 five years ago—an increase of 4.4 per cent. Of the remaining seventeen big Italian cities, thirteen are in the mainland, three in Sicily, and one in Sardinia. The main purpose of the last Census of the population was to collect the necessary information regarding the various occupations and professions of the Italian people. The forms which were distributed to each head of family to fill contained, in addition to the usual questions concerning the members of his family (number, age, sex, relationship, etc.), detailed queries on the kind of job practised by each member of the household from the age of ten onward. Since agriculture and farming constitute the main occupation in this country, particular care has been taken in drafting questions concerning this branch of activity. .. The authorities should now be in possession of valuable material to enable them to get a precise idea of working conditions in this country. ,