With 60.6 million inhabitants, Italy has the fourth largest population in Europe. However, it remains mainly a rural country especially when compared to equivalent economies in the EU.
Italy is divided into 20 regions, 107 provinces and 7,982 towns and villages: a very fragmented territory. In order to reach 80% of the population, it is necessary to be present in a minimum of 2,025 cities/villages or 58 provinces. This is a significant challenge for the modern distribution channels operators as their national coverage requires a large number of retail stores.
Population coverage
Nielsen has divided Italy into 4 areas for purpose of measuring numerical and weighted distribution indexes. This segmentation is consistent with general cultural, economic and commercial differences on our territory.
*Source: ISTAT July 6, 2017