Giographic distribution

• The total speakers of Italian as maternal language are between 60 and 70 million. The speakers who use Italian as second or cultural language are estimated around 110-120 million [7].
• Italian is the official language of Italy and San Marino, and one of the official languages of Switzerland, spoken mainly in Ticino and Grigioni cantons, a region referred to as Italian Switzerland. It is also the second official language in the Vatican City and in some areas of Istria in Slovenia and Croatia with an Italian minority. In Brazil, Italian is the second official language of Villa Velha and Santa Teresa, 2 towns in the Espirito Santo state. It is widely used and taught in Monaco and Malta.[8] It is also widely understood in Corsica and Nice (areas that historically spoke Italian dialects before annexation to France), and Albania.
• From the Italian Foreign Office site [9] the countries with significant presence of Italian citizens abroad (in total more than 4 million. The number does not indicate the real consistence of Italian speakers in every country):
• 1. Brazil 1,292,519 (1.2%)
• 2. Germany 708,019 (0.9% of population)
• 3. Argentina 618,443 (1.5%)
• 4. Switzerland 520,550 (6.7%)
• 5. France 358,603 (0.6%)
• 6. Belgium 281,674 (3%)
• 7. United States 188,926
• 8. United Kingdom 173,493
• 9. Canada 140,812 (0.4 %)
• 10. Australia 131,679 (0.9 %)
• 11. New Zealand 129.959 (4.2%)
• 12. Mexico 125,655
• 13. Venezuela 121,655 (0.6%)
• 14. Uruguay 74,163 (2.5%)
• 15. Spain 61,383
• 16. Chile 44,734
• 17. Sweden 42,369
• 18. South Africa 32,330
• 19. Netherlands 30,529
• 20. Peru 25,787
• 21. Luxembourg 22,913 (5%)
• 22. Austria 13,824
• 23. Greece 10,654
• 24. Colombia 10,474
• 25. Israel 10,221
• 26. Ecuador 10,105
• 27. Monaco 6,631 (21%)
• Italian is also spoken by some in former Italian colonies in Africa (Libya, Somalia and Eritrea). However, its use has sharply dropped off since the colonial period. In Eritrea Italian is widely understood [10]. In fact, for fifty years, during the colonial period, Italian was the language of instruction, but as of 1997, there is only one Italian language school remaining, with 470 pupils.[11] In Somalia Italian used to be a major language but due to the civil war and lack of education only the older generation still uses it.
• Italian and Italian dialects are widely used by Italian immigrants and their descendants (see Italians) living throughout Western Europe (especially France (1 million [12], Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Luxembourg), the United States, Canada, Australia, and Latin America (especially Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela).
• In the United States, Italian speakers are most commonly found in four cities: Boston (7,000)[13], Chicago (12,000)[14], New York City (140,000)[15], and Philadelphia (15,000)[16]. In Canada there are large Italian-speaking communities in Montreal (120,000) and Toronto (195,000).[citation needed] Italian is the second most commonly-spoken language in Australia, where 353,605 Italian Australians, or 1.9% of the population, reported speaking Italian at home in the 2001 Census.[17] In 2001 there were 130,000 Italian speakers in Melbourne,[18] and 90,000 in Sydney.[19]