Palermo - Demographics

Demographics

Historical population
Year Pop. ±%
1861 199,911
1871 223,689 +11.9%
1881 244,898 +9.5%
1901 309,566 +26.4%
1911 339,465 +9.7%
1921 397,486 +17.1%
1931 379,905 −4.4%
1936 411,879 +8.4%
1951 490,692 +19.1%
1961 587,985 +19.8%
1971 642,814 +9.3%
1981 701,782 +9.2%
1991 698,556 −0.5%
2001 686,722 −1.7%
2008 (Est.) 659,623 −3.9%
Source: ISTAT 2001

In 2010, there were 655,875 people residing in Palermo, of which 1.2 million live in the greater Palermo area, and of whom 47.4% were male and 52.6% were female. People under age 15 totalled 15.6% of the population compared to pensioners who number 17.2. This compares with the Italian average of 14.1% (people under age 15) and 20.2% pensioners. The average age of Palermo resident is 40,4 compared to the Italian average of 42,8. In the ten years between 2001 and 2010, the population of Palermo declined by 4.5%, while the population of Italy, as a whole, grew by 6.0%. The reason for Palermo's decline is a population flight to the suburbs, and to Northern Italy. The current birth rate of Palermo is 10.2 births per 1,000 inhabitants compared to the Italian average of 9.3 births.

As of 2006, 97.79% of the population was of Sicilian/Italian descent. The largest immigrant group came from South Asia (mostly from Sri Lanka): 0.80%, other European countries (mostly from Albania, Romania, Serbia, Macedonia and Ukraine,): 0.3%, and North Africa (mostly from Tunisia): 0.28%.

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