Italy's population is now just under 60 million and is climbing thanks to the influx of immigrants, national statistics bureau Istat reported on Thursday.
According to Istat, Italy's population on December 31, 2007 was 59,619,290 people, compared to 59,131,287 a year year, an increase of 0.8%.
The increase of 488,003 people, Istat said, was completely due to immigration.
Based on its latest calculations, Istat said that in 2007 there were 5.8 foreigners for every 100 residents, compared to 5 in 2006.
The highest rate of foreigners was in the northeast, 8.1 per 100 residents, followed by the northwest (7.8) and central Italy (7.3).
In the south, there were only 2.1 foreigners per 100 residents.
