About DEMOPAST

Italian Historical Demographic Atlas

DEMOPAST is a digital atlas of Italian historical demography based on digitized census data from ISTAT (Istituto Nazionale di Statistica), starting from the first national census of the unified Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

The Project

The primary goal of DEMOPAST is to provide consistent population data by sex and age classes across all Italian provinces over time. Census data has been digitized, classified, and harmonized to account for changing administrative boundaries.

Data Sources

All data comes from the official Italian national censuses published by ISTAT. The original census volumes have been digitized and the population tables extracted and classified.

GENPOP

DEMOPAST is part of the GENPOP research project.

Available Census Years

Year Provinces Notes
1861 59 First national census of the Kingdom of Italy (Veneto, Lazio, Trentino not yet annexed)
1871 70 After annexation of Veneto (1866) and Rome (1870)
1881 68
1901 69
1911 69
1921 69 Includes Venezia Giulia and Venezia Tridentina (post-WWI)
1931 89 Province boundaries redrawn under the fascist administrative reform

Team

  • Nicola Barban
  • Michail Raftakis
  • Lorenzo Lionello
  • Luciana Maselli
  • Riccardo Omenti

Contact

For questions about the data or the project, please contact the DEMOPAST team.

GENPOP University of Bologna — Department of Statistical Sciences European Research Council

GENPOP has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 865356). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

© 2026 DEMOPAST — A GENPOP Project