 Main religion is Roman Catholic.  Their population contains 60.3 million people. (annual growth rate is 0.07% due to immigration)  The biggest ethnic group is primarily Italian, but there is also different ethnicities of people that live there (such as german- italian)  The official language in Italy is Italian.

 Italy is run by president Giorgio Napolitano and a prime minister by the name of Silvio Berlusconi.  It has had a democratic republic government since  The different kind of branches it has are: Executive- headed by president ; Council Of Members- (cabinet) headed by prime minister Legislative- bicameral parliament ; Chamber of deputies- has 630 members; Senate- has 300 members (plus varying number of “life” senators) Judicial- independent constitutional court and magistracy Political Parties- Christian Democratic Center, People of Liberty Party, Forza Italia Party, Italian People’s Party, etc.

o The president is chosen for seven years by the parliament. o From there, the president gets to choose who they would like there Prime Minister to be. o Then, the Prime Minister chooses other ministers. o Both houses are elected for five year terms. o Senate includes former presidents and other people.

Italy’s natural resources: fish & natural gas. Italy has several different agriculture products it produces, such as: wheat, rice, potatoes, olives, etc. Along with agricultural products, Italy also has industrial products such as: tourism, steel, clothing, food processing, etc.

 A major problem is Italy is that many children there tend to experience a lot of poverty. An obstacle there is that in trying to stop poverty is that Italy has an inadequate social welfare system.  Another problem is that there is low job opportunities for the people of Italy. It is higher in the south than the north for jobs opportunities.  Also, the prime minister of Italy (Silvio Berlusconi) has had some problems with people accusing him of criminal charges such as being involved with prostitutes and abusing the office.