Rome

==Demographics== <!--linked-->
{{hatnote|'People of Rome' redirects here. For the ancient Roman political concept, see [[SPQR]]. For the 2003 film, see [[People of Rome (film)]].}}
{{See also|Demographics of Italy}}
[[File:Rome (comune) population pyramid in 2022.svg|thumb|Rome (comune) [[Population pyramid|age-sex pyramid]] in 2022]]
{{Historical populations
|type=
|footnote= Source: [[National Institute of Statistics (Italy)|ISTAT]], 2022
|1861 |194500
|1871 |212432
|1881 |273952
|1901 |422411
|1911 |518917
|1921 |660235
|1931 |930926
|1936 |1150589
|1951 |1651754
|1961 |2188160
|1971 |2781993
|1981 |2840259
|1991 |2775250
|2001 |2663182
|2011 |2617175
|2021 |2770226
}}
By 550 BC, Rome was the second largest city in Italy after only Taras (modern [[Taranto]]) on the [[Salento Peninsula]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2019}} It had an area of about {{cvt|285|ha|abbr=off}} and an estimated population of 35,000. Other sources suggest the population was just under 100,000 from 600 to 500 BC.<ref>Cornell (1995) 204–205</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vL2ntMk7j-4C&pg=PA78 |title=Floods of the Tiber in Ancient Rome |author=Gregory S. Aldrete |date=30 January 2007 |publisher=JHU Press |access-date=13 July 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151130043744/https://books.google.com/books?id=vL2ntMk7j-4C&pg=PA78 |archive-date=30 November 2015 |isbn=978-0-8018-8405-4}}</ref> When the Republic was founded in 509 BC the census recorded a population of 130,000.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ward |first1=Lorne H. |title=Roman Population, Territory, Tribe, City, and Army Size from the Republic's Founding to the Veientane War, 509 B.C.-400 B.C. |journal=The American Journal of Philology |date=1990 |volume=111 |issue=1 |pages=5–39 |doi=10.2307/295257 |jstor=295257 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/295257 |access-date=12 February 2022 |issn=0002-9475}}</ref> The republic included the city itself and the immediate surroundings. Other sources suggest a population of 150,000 in 500 BC. It surpassed 300,000 by 150 BC.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fHtvowE9bt8C&pg=PA168 |title=The History of Human Populations: Forms of growth and decline |author=P.M.G. Harris |access-date=13 July 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101113738/https://books.google.com/books?id=fHtvowE9bt8C&pg=PA168 |archive-date=1 January 2016 |isbn=978-0-275-97131-1 |year=2001|publisher=Greenwood Publishing }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Herreros |first=Francisco |url=https://www.academia.edu/1458998 |title=Size and Virtue |journal=European Journal of Political Theory |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=463–482 |access-date=13 July 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904013536/http://www.academia.edu/1458998/Size_and_Virtue |archive-date=4 September 2015 |doi=10.1177/1474885107080651 |year=2007 |s2cid=145139011}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |jstor=295257 |title=Roman Population, Territory, Tribe, City, and Army Size from the Republic's Founding to the Veientane War, 509 B.C.–400 B.C. |first=Lorne H. |last=Ward |date=1 January 1990 |journal=The American Journal of Philology |volume=111 |issue=1 |pages=5–39 |doi=10.2307/295257}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|chapter=Chapter 1: Warfare and the Army in Early Rome |author=Rich, John |title=A Companion to the Roman Army |year=2007 |editor=Erdkamp, Paul |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |isbn=978-1-4051-2153-8 |chapter-url=http://media.johnwiley.com.au/product_data/excerpt/14/14443392/1444339214.pdf |access-date=24 September 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160127113433/http://media.johnwiley.com.au/product_data/excerpt/14/14443392/1444339214.pdf |archive-date=27 January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cg7JYZO_nEMC&pg=PA81 |title=Cities and Economic Development: From the Dawn of History to the Present |author=Paul Bairoch |date=18 June 1991 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |access-date=13 July 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101113738/https://books.google.com/books?id=Cg7JYZO_nEMC&pg=PA81 |archive-date=1 January 2016 |isbn=978-0-226-03466-9}}</ref>

The size of the city at the time of the Emperor [[Augustus]] is a matter of speculation, with estimates based on grain distribution, grain imports, aqueduct capacity, city limits, population density, census reports, and assumptions about the number of unreported women, children and slaves providing a very wide range. Glenn Storey estimates 450,000 people, Whitney Oates estimates 1.2 million, Neville Morely provides a rough estimate of 800,000 and excludes earlier suggestions of 2 million.<ref>N.Morley, ''Metropolis and Hinterland'' (Cambridge, 1996) 33–39</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Duiker |first1=William |last2=Spielvogel |first2=Jackson |title=World History |date=2001 |publisher=Wadsworth |isbn=978-0-534-57168-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/worldhistoryto1500duik/page/149 |url-access=registration |page=149 |edition=Third}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Storey |first=Glenn R. |year=1997 |title=The population of ancient Rome |journal=Antiquity |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=71 |issue=274 |pages=966–978 |doi=10.1017/s0003598x00085859 |issn=0003-598X|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Oates |first=Whitney J. |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Journals/CP/29/2/Population_of_Rome*.html |title=The Population of Rome |journal=Classical Philology |publisher=University of Chicago Press |volume=29 |issue=2 |year=1934 |issn=0009-837X |doi=10.1086/361701 |pages=101–116 |s2cid=154126945 |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-date=29 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529132834/https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Journals/CP/29/2/Population_of_Rome%2A.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Estimates of the city's population towards and after the end of the Roman empire also vary. A.H.M. Jones estimated the population at 650,000 in the mid-fifth century. The damage caused by the sackings may have been overestimated. The population had already started to decline from the late fourth century onward, although around the middle of the fifth century it seems that Rome continued to be the most populous city of the two parts of the Empire.<ref>Arnold HM Jones The Decline of the Ancient World, Lonmans, Green and Co. Ltd, London 1966</ref> According to Krautheimer it was still close to 800,000 in 400 AD; had declined to 500,000 by 452, and dwindled to perhaps 100,000 in 500 AD. After the Gothic Wars, 535–552, the population may have dwindled temporarily to 30,000. During the pontificate of [[Pope Gregory I]] (590–604), it may have reached 90,000, augmented by refugees.<ref>Richard Krautheimer, Rome, Profile of a City, 312–1308, 2000 p. 65 {{ISBN|0-691-04961-0}}</ref> Lancon estimates 500,000 based on the number of 'incisi' enrolled as eligible to receive bread, oil and wine rations; the number fell to 120,000 in the [[reform of 419]].<ref>Bernard Lancon, Rome in Late Antiquity, 2001 p. 14 {{ISBN|0-415-92976-8}}</ref> Neil Christie, citing free rations for the poorest, estimated 500,000 in the mid-fifth century and still a quarter of a million at the end of the century.<ref>Neil Christie, From Constantine to Charlemagne, An Archaeology of Italy 300–800 A.D. 2006 p. 61, {{ISBN|978-1-85928-421-6}}</ref> Novel 36 of Emperor [[Valentinian III]] records 3.629 million pounds of pork to be distributed to the needy at 5 lbs. per month for the five winter months, sufficient for 145,000 recipients. This has been used to suggest a population of just under 500,000. Supplies of grain remained steady until the seizure of the remaining provinces of North Africa in 439 by the [[Vandals]], and may have continued to some degree afterwards for a while. The city's population declined to less than 50,000 people in the [[Early Middle Ages]] from 700 AD onward. It continued to stagnate or shrink until the [[Renaissance]].<ref>P. Llewellyn, ''Rome in the Dark Ages'' (London 1993), p. 97.</ref>

When the [[Kingdom of Italy]] annexed Rome in 1870, the city had a population of about 225,000. Less than half the city within the walls was built up in 1881 when the population recorded was 275,000. This increased to 600,000 by the eve of World War I. The [[Fascism|Fascist]] regime of Mussolini tried to block an excessive demographic rise of the city but failed to prevent it from reaching one million people by the early 1930s.{{citation needed|date=March 2014}}{{clarify|why?|date=March 2014}} Population growth continued after the Second World War, helped by a post-war economic boom. A construction boom also created many suburbs during the 1950s and 1960s.

In mid-2010, there were 2,754,440 residents in the city proper, while some 4.2&nbsp;million people lived in the greater Rome area (which can be approximately identified with its administrative metropolitan city, with a population density of about 800 inhabitants/km<sup>2</sup> stretching over more than {{cvt|5,000|km2}}). Minors (children ages 18 and younger) totalled 17.00% of the population compared to pensioners who number 20.76%. This compares with the Italian average of 18.06% (minors) and 19.94% (pensioners). The average age of a Roman resident is 43 compared to the Italian average of 42. In the five years between 2002 and 2007, the population of Rome grew by 6.54%, while Italy as a whole grew by 3.56%.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://demo.istat.it/bil2007/index.html |title=Statistiche demografiche ISTAT |publisher=Demo.istat.it |access-date=3 February 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090426215446/http://demo.istat.it/bil2007/index.html |archive-date=26 April 2009}}</ref> The current{{when|date=August 2017}} birth rate of Rome is 9.10 births per 1,000 inhabitants compared to the Italian average of 9.45 births.{{citation needed|date=August 2017}}

The urban area of Rome extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of around 3.9 million.<ref name=World_Urban_Areas>{{Cite web |url=http://www.demographia.com/db-worldua.pdf |title=Demographia World Urban Areas |date=January 2015 |website=demographia.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517065701/http://www.demographia.com/db-worldua.pdf |archive-date=17 May 2017 |url-status=unfit}}</ref> Between 3.2 and 4.2 million people live in the [[Rome metropolitan area]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.espon.eu/programme/projects/espon-2006/studies-and-scientific-support-projects/study-urban-functions |title=Study on Urban Functions (Project 1.4.3) |date=2006 |website=[[European Spatial Planning Observation Network]] |at=Ch. 3 |access-date=22 August 2019 |archive-date=22 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190822032242/https://www.espon.eu/programme/projects/espon-2006/studies-and-scientific-support-projects/study-urban-functions |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/tgm/table.do?tab=table&init=1&language=en&pcode=tgs00080&plugin=1 |title=Total population in Urban Audit cities, Larger Urban Zone |date=2009 |website=[[Eurostat]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120924142951/http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/tgm/table.do?tab=table&init=1&language=en&pcode=tgs00080&plugin=1 |archive-date=24 September 2012 |url-status=unfit |access-date=22 August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://esa.un.org/wup2009/unup/index.asp?panel=2 |title=World Urbanization Prospects (2009 revision) |date=2010 |website=[[United Nations]] Department of Economic and Social Affairs |at=(Table A.12. Data for 2007) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100425020103/http://esa.un.org/wup2009/unup/index.asp?panel=2 |archive-date=25 April 2010 |url-status=dead |access-date=22 August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=OECD |author-link=Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development |title=OECD Territorial Reviews Competitive Cities in the Global Economy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kBsfY-Pe2Q4C |year=2006 |publisher=OECD Publishing |at=Table 1.1 |isbn=978-92-64-02708-4 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016032356/https://books.google.com/books?id=kBsfY-Pe2Q4C |archive-date=16 October 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.citypopulation.de/world/Agglomerations.html |title=Major Agglomerations of the World |last=Brinkoff |first=Thomas |date=1 January 2019 |website=Population Statistics and Maps |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100704112702/http://www.citypopulation.de/world/Agglomerations.html |archive-date=4 July 2010 |url-status=unfit}}</ref>

===Origin groups===
[[File:Esquilino da s M Maggiore 1240961.JPG|thumb|right|The [[Esquilino (rione of Rome)|Esquilino]] ''[[Rioni of Rome|rione]]'']]

According to the latest statistics conducted by ISTAT,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://demo.istat.it/str2009/index.html |title=Statistiche demografiche ISTAT |publisher=Demo.istat.it |access-date=30 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110117015639/http://demo.istat.it/str2009/index.html |archive-date=17 January 2011}}</ref> approximately 9.5% of the population consists of non-Italians. About half of the immigrant population consists of those of various other European origins (chiefly Romanian, Polish, Ukrainian, and Albanian) numbering a combined total of 131,118 or 4.7% of the population. The remaining 4.8% are those with non-European origins, chiefly [[Filipinos]] (26,933), Bangladeshis (12,154), and Chinese (10,283).

The [[Esquilino (rione of Rome)|Esquilino]] ''[[Rioni of Rome|rione]]'', off [[Termini Station (Rome)|Termini Railway Station]], has evolved into a largely immigrant neighbourhood. It is perceived as Rome's Chinatown. Immigrants from more than a hundred different countries reside there. A commercial district, Esquilino contains restaurants featuring many kinds of international cuisine. There are wholesale clothes shops. Of the 1,300 or so commercial premises operating in the district 800 are Chinese-owned; around 300 are run by immigrants from other countries around the world; 200 are owned by Italians.<ref>{{cite web |last=Pretto |first=Emiliano |title=Rome Post – what's happening in Rome |website=romepost.it |date=21 June 2009 |url=http://www.romepost.it/Rioni_of_Rome_Esquilino.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090621033439/http://www.romepost.it/Rioni_of_Rome_Esquilino.htm | archive-date=21 June 2009 | url-status=unfit | access-date=22 August 2019}}</ref>

===Language===
{{Main|Roman dialect|Latin}}
[[Image:Nove-bone.jpg|thumb|Advertisement in [[Romanesco dialect]] at a subway station in Rome]]

Rome's historic contribution to language in a worldwide sense is much more extensive, however. Through the process of [[Romanization (cultural)|Romanization]], the peoples of Italy, [[Gallia]], the [[Iberian Peninsula]] and [[Dacia]] developed languages which derive directly from Latin and were adopted in large areas of the world, all through cultural influence, colonisation and migration. Moreover, also modern English, because of the [[Norman Conquest]], borrowed a large percentage of its vocabulary from the Latin language. The [[Latin alphabet|Roman or Latin alphabet]] is the most widely used writing system in the world used by the greatest number of languages.<ref>{{cite book |author=Ostler, N. |year=2007 |title=Ad Infinitum: A Biography of Latin |location=London |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-8027-1679-8}}</ref>

The medieval [[Roman dialect]] belonged to the southern family of Italian dialects, and was thus much closer to the [[Neapolitan language]] than to the Florentine.<ref name=sie/><ref>{{cite web|title=Romanesco|url=http://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/romanesco/|website=www.treccani.it|publisher=Treccani|access-date=6 February 2015}}</ref> A typical example of Romanesco of that period is ''{{ill|Cronica dell'Anonimo Romano|lt=Vita di Cola di Rienzo|it}}'' ("Life of [[Cola di Rienzo]]"), written by an anonymous Roman during the 14th century.<ref name=sie>{{cite web|title=La Parlata romana|url=http://online.unistrasi.it/Avvisi/Laparlataromana.pdf|website=online.unistrasi.it|publisher=Università per stranieri di Siena|access-date=6 February 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206110011/http://online.unistrasi.it/Avvisi/Laparlataromana.pdf|archive-date=6 February 2015}}</ref> Starting with the 16th century, the Roman dialect underwent a stronger and stronger influence from the [[Tuscan dialect]] (from which modern Italian derives) starting with the reigns of the two [[House of Medici|Medici]] popes ([[Leo X]] and [[Clement VII]]) and with the [[Sack of Rome (1527)|Sack of Rome in 1527]], two events which provoked a large immigration from [[Tuscany]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=D'Achille|first1=Paolo|title=Italiano di Roma|url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/italiano-di-roma_(Enciclopedia_dell'Italiano)/|website=www.treccani.it|publisher=Treccani|access-date=6 February 2015}}</ref><ref name=dia>{{cite web|title=Dialetti|url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/dialetti_(Enciclopedia_dell'Italiano)/|website=www.treccani.it|publisher=Treccani|access-date=6 February 2015}}</ref> Therefore, current Romanesco has grammar and roots that are rather different from other dialects in Central Italy.<ref name=dia/>

===Religion===
{{Main|Religion in Rome}}
{{See also|Vatican City}}
[[File:San Giovanni in Laterano 2021.jpg|thumb|right|[[Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran]], Rome's Cathedral, built in 324, and partly rebuilt between 1660 and 1734]]
[[File:Santa Maria Maggiore Front.JPG|thumb|One of the [[Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome]], [[Santa Maria Maggiore]] is the city's largest [[Roman Catholic Marian church|Catholic Marian church]].]]

Much like the rest of Italy, Rome is predominantly [[Christianity|Christian]], and the city has been an important centre of religion and [[Christian pilgrimage|pilgrimage]] for centuries, the base of the ancient Roman religion with the [[Pontifex Maximus|pontifex maximus]] and later the seat of the [[Holy See|Vatican]] and the pope. Before the arrival of the Christians in Rome, the [[Religion in ancient Rome|Religio Romana]] (literally, the "Roman Religion") was the major religion of the city in classical antiquity. The first gods held sacred by the Romans were [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]], the Most High, and [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]], the god of war, and father of Rome's twin founders, [[Romulus and Remus]], according to tradition. Other deities such as [[Vesta (mythology)|Vesta]] and [[Minerva]] were honoured. Rome was also the base of several mystery cults, such as [[Mithraic Mysteries|Mithraism]]. Later, after [[Saint Peter|St Peter]] and [[Paul the Apostle|St Paul]] were martyred in the city, and the first Christians began to arrive, Rome became Christian, and the [[Old St. Peter's Basilica]] was constructed in 313 AD. Despite some interruptions (such as the [[Avignon Papacy|Avignon papacy]]), Rome has for centuries been the home of the [[Roman Catholic Church]] and the [[Pope|Bishop of Rome]], otherwise known as the Pope.

Despite the fact that Rome is home to the [[Vatican City]] and St. Peter's Basilica, Rome's cathedral is the [[Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran]], in the south-east of the city centre. There are around 900 churches in Rome in total. Aside from the cathedral itself, some others of note include the [[Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore]], the [[Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls]], the [[Basilica di San Clemente]], [[San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane]] and the [[Church of the Gesu|Church of the Gesù]]. There are also the ancient [[Catacombs of Rome]] underneath the city. Numerous highly important religious educational institutions are also in Rome, such as the [[Pontifical Lateran University]], [[Pontifical Biblical Institute]], [[Pontifical Gregorian University]], and [[Pontifical Oriental Institute]].

Since the end of the [[Roman Republic]], Rome is also the centre of an important [[Jewish]] community,<ref>Coarelli, p. 308.</ref> which was once based in [[Trastevere]], and later in the [[Roman Ghetto]]. There lies also the major synagogue in Rome, the ''[[Great Synagogue of Rome|Tempio Maggiore]]''.

The territory of [[Vatican City]] is part of the ''Mons Vaticanus'' ([[Vatican Hill]]), and of the adjacent former Vatican Fields, where [[St. Peter's Basilica]], the [[Apostolic Palace]], the [[Sistine Chapel]], and museums were built, along with various other buildings. The area was part of the Roman [[rione]] of [[Borgo (rione of Rome)|Borgo]] until 1929. Being separated from the city on the west bank of the [[Tiber]], the area was a suburb that was protected by being included within the walls of [[Pope Leo IV|Leo IV]], later expanded by the current fortification walls of [[Pope Paul III|Paul III]], [[Pope Pius IV|Pius IV]], and [[Pope Urban VIII|Urban VIII]]. When the [[Lateran Treaty]] of 1929 that created the Vatican state was being prepared, the boundaries of the proposed territory were influenced by the fact that much of it was all but enclosed by this loop.

Rome has been a major [[Christian pilgrimage]] site since the [[Middle Ages]]. People from all over the [[Christian world]] visit Vatican City, within the city of Rome, the seat of the papacy. The city became a major [[pilgrimage]] site during the Middle Ages. Apart from brief periods as an independent city during the [[Middle Ages]], Rome kept its status as Papal capital and holy city for centuries, even when the Papacy [[Avignon papacy|briefly relocated]] to [[Avignon]] (1309–1377). Catholics believe that the Vatican is the last resting place of St. Peter. Pilgrimages to Rome can involve visits to many sites, both within Vatican City and in Italian territory. A popular stopping point is the [[scala sancta|Pilate's stairs]]: these are, according to the Christian tradition, the steps that led up to the [[praetorium]] of [[Pontius Pilate]] in [[Jerusalem]], which [[Jesus Christ]] stood on during his [[Passion (Christianity)|Passion]] on his way to trial.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1554541/Steps-Jesus-walked-to-trial-restored-to-glory.html |title=Steps Jesus walked to trial restored to glory |last=Moore |first=Malcolm |date=13 June 2007 |work=The Telegraph |access-date=22 August 2019 |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235 |archive-date=30 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200430054419/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1554541/Steps-Jesus-walked-to-trial-restored-to-glory.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

{{wide image|Plac_św._Piotra_(St._Peter's_Basilica).jpg|1000px|alt=Panorama of St. Peter's Square|[[St. Peter's Square]] in [[Vatican City]]}}