_#_Natural resources: mercury, potash, marble, sulfur, dwindling natural gas and crude oil reserves, fish, coal
_#_Land use: arable land 32%; permanent crops 10%; meadows and pastures 17%; forest and woodland 22%; other 19%; includes irrigated 10%
_#_Environment: regional risks include landslides, mudflows, snowslides, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flooding, pollution; land sinkage in Venice
_#_Note: strategic location dominating central Mediterranean as well as southern sea and air approaches to Western Europe
_*People #_Population: 57,772,375 (July 1991), growth rate 0.2% (1991)
_#_Birth rate: 11 births/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Death rate: 10 deaths/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Net migration rate: 1 migrant/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Infant mortality rate: 6 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)
_#_Life expectancy at birth: 75 years male, 82 years female (1991)