Italians

Italians
Italian: Italiani
Total population
c. 140 million
Regions with significant populations
Italy        55,551,000[1]
Brazil25–34 million (incl. ancestry)[3][4][5]
Argentina20–25 million (incl. ancestry)[6][7]
United States16–23 million (incl. ancestry)[8][9][10][11]
France5–6 million (incl. ancestry)[12][5][13][14]
Paraguay2.5 million (incl. ancestry)[15]
Colombia2 million (incl. ancestry)[16]
Canada1.5 million (incl. ancestry)[17]
Uruguay1.5 million (incl. ancestry)[18]
Venezuela1–2 million (incl. ancestry)[19][20][21][22][23]
Australia1.1 million (incl. ancestry)[24][25]
Germany801,082[26]
Switzerland639,508[26]
Chile600,000[27]
Peru500,000[28]
Belgium451,825[29]
Costa Rica381,316[30]
Spain350,981[31]
United Kingdom280,000[32]
Mexico85,000[33]
South Africa77,400[5]
Ecuador56,000[34]
Russia53,649[35]
Netherlands52,789[26]
Austria38,904[26]
San Marino33,400[36]
Luxembourg30,933
Portugal30,819[37]
Ireland22,160
Croatia19,636[38]
Sweden19,087
Albania19,000[39]
United Arab Emirates17,000[40]
Israel16,255[26]
Greece12,452[26]
Denmark10,092[26]
Poland10,000[41]
Thailand10,000[42]
Languages
Italian and other languages of Italy
Religion
Predominantly Roman Catholicism[43]
Minority Irreligion[44]
Related ethnic groups
Corsicans, Sammarinese, Sicilians, Sardinians, Maltese people[45][46]

Italians (Italian: italiani, Italian: [itaˈljaːni]) are a genetically and culturally diverse ethnic group native to the Italian geographical region.[47] Italians can be considered an ethnic group because they share a common core of culture, history, ancestry, and usage of Italian language.

Standard Italian was adopted in the whole peninsula only after the formation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861, while regional dialects and regional or minority languages have been the native tongue of most Italians especially prior to the advent of mandatory education and mass media. For this reason and due to the history of political division and foreign control of the various Italian regions, Italian culture and tradition thus differs regionally.

The first populations known to settle in the Italian peninsula are such as the Etruscans, the Ligures, the Sicani, the Elymians, the Iapygians, the Nuragic peoples (in Sardinia), the Celtic populations like the Rhaetians, the Lepontii, the Adriatic Veneti, etc.; and the Italic peoples, including the Latins, from which the Romans emerged and incorporated other populations, thus helping in developing the modern Italian identity.[48][49][50][51] The Italian peninsula has continuously experiences colonization and invasions by other populations. In antiquity, these included the ancient Greeks in Magna Graecia, and the Phoenicians in Sicily and Sardinia, and later the Germanics and the Slavs coming from the North and East. In Medieval times, parts of the Peninsula have been occupied by foreign population, such as the Ostrogoths, Lombards, Franks, Normans, Arabs. In the Modern age, other European countries like France, Spain, and Austria controlled parts of the peninsula. These events have left a strong regional influence on the culture, history, ancestry, and dialects of Italian language. As example, the inhabitants of the village of Gurro, in Northern Italy, claim to discend from Scottish mercenaries who married into the local population and introduced their costumes [52]. Finally, emigration and immigration played a crucial role in developing local cultures, with both immigrant and returning emigrants introducing new costumes. An example of this, is the village of Barga, in Tuscany.

The Latin equivalent of the term Italian had been in use for natives of the geographical region since antiquity.[53]

Nowadays, Italian nationals are citizens of Italy, regardless of ancestry or nation of residence. However, Italian nationality (or citizenship) is largely based on jus sanguinis, according to which a person can claim Italian citizenship if they have ancestors with such citizenship. Still, Italian nationality is not necessarily synonymous with Italian ethnicity, as there are ethnic Italians without Italian citizenship or descendants of Italians in territories that were once part of an Italian state and now belong to another country (for instance in Nice, Istria, and Dalmatia); and ethnic Italians without citizenship who descend from emigrants of the Italian diaspora.[54][55]. In fact, is estimated that there are more people with the right to claim Italian nationality (~80 millions) than Italian nationals (~55 millions).

The majority of Italian nationals are native speakers of the country's official language, Italian, a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Tuscanian dialects, themselved evolved from Vulgar Latin as most Italian dialects and minority languages. However, many Italians also speak a regional or minority language native to Italy, the existence of which predates the national language.[56][57] Although there is disagreement on the total number, according to UNESCO, there are approximately 30 languages native to Italy, although many are often misleadingly referred to as "Italian dialects".[58][50][59][60] The dialects and minority languages, together with foreign influences, affect the regional use of Italian.

Since 2017, in addition to the approximately 55 million Italians in Italy (91% of the Italian national population),[1][61] Italian-speaking autonomous groups are found in neighboring nations; about a half million are in Switzerland,[62] as well as in France,[63] the entire population of San Marino. In addition, there are also clusters of Italian speakers in the former Yugoslavia, primarily in Istria, located between in modern Croatia and Slovenia (see: Istrian Italians), and Dalmatia, located in present-day Croatia and Montenegro (see: Dalmatian Italians). Due to the wide-ranging diaspora following Italian unification in 1861, World War I and World War II, (with over 5 million Italian citizens that live outside of Italy)[64] over 80 million people abroad claim full or partial Italian ancestry.[65] This includes about 60% of Argentina's population (Italian Argentines),[66][67] 44% of Uruguayans (Italian Uruguayans),[18] 15% of Brazilians (Italian Brazilians, the largest Italian community outside Italy),[68] more than 18 million Italian Americans, and people in other parts of Europe (e.g. Italians in Germany, Italians in France and Italians in the United Kingdom), the American Continent (such as Italian Venezuelans, Italian Canadians, Italian Colombians and Italians in Paraguay, among others), Australasia (Italian Australians and Italian New Zealanders), and to a lesser extent in the Middle East (Italians in the United Arab Emirates).

Italians have strongly influenced and contributed to fields like arts and music, science, technology, fashion, cinema, cuisine, restaurants, sports, jurisprudence, banking and business.[69][70][71][72][73]

Italian people are generally known for their attachment to their family and local communities, expressed in the form of either regionalism or municipalism (in Italian, campanilismo, after the ita Italian word for bell tower (ita. campanile).[74]

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