Italy's resident population grew by almost 400,000 last year with immigrants making up most of the increase, national statistics bureau Istat reported on Thursday.
In its annual population report, Istat said there were a total of 59,131,287 people residing legally in Italy in December 2006 compared to 58,751,711 a year previously.
The 0.6% increase was mainly due to immigrants, it said, adding that there were now five foreigners for every 100 Italian nationals compared to 4.5 per 100 in 2005.
The report highlighted regional variations in the immigrant population.
It showed that the majority of legal immigrants lived in central and northern Italy, where the ratio was between 6.4-7.2 foreigners for every 100 Italians.
In the south, the corresponding ratio was 1.6 per 100, Istat said.
The bureau's overall population figures also showed that women still outnumbered men.
More than 30.4 million females are currently living in the country compared to 28.7 million males, according to Istat.
In other comments, Istat said the only big cities which saw major swells in the number of legal residents last year were Rome and Verona, with increases of 8,226 and 1,304 respectively.
Naples, by contrast, lost more than 9,100 residents, the bureau said.
