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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Italians of Italy

The Italians of Italy, numbering approximately 53,220,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as a Southern European people whose culture has been shaped by the legacy of the Roman world, centuries of regional development, Mediterranean interactions, Christianity, urban life, and strong family networks They are an Indigenous people, with Italian as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Italian people cluster of the Eurasian Peoples. They mostly adhere to Roman Catholicism and Italian is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash: Italian

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Eurasian Peoples
Country: Italy
People Cluster: Italian
Primary Language(s): Italian (ita)
Primary Religion(s): Roman Catholicism
Population: 53,220,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG000331
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Pray for the Italians of Italy

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Roman Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

81%
%
Roman Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Italian
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Italian Speakers

Media Resources in Italian:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Italian:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Italian Riveduta 1927✓
Traduzione Interconfessionale in Lingua Corrente✓

2 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Italian bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Italians are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Italians:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Pray specifically for the Italians of Italy

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
readRomans 1:19

Pray that God will use testimony of creation to cause those who do not yet know the gospel to long for truth and a relationship with the Author of life.

And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
read1 John 4:21

Pray that the good news of God's love will reach everyone in this people group, and that His love will compel them to love others as Christ has loved us.

For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.
readPsalm 149:4

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be encouraged and feel immeasurably loved as they meditate on the fact that God takes pleasure in them.

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
readIsaiah 58:7

As believers cross cultures to share the good news of Christ, pray that God will sustain them and grow their faith as He gives them the compassion necessary to minister well to those in need.

Italian Across Countries (ROP3 - 104096) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

21 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
ItaliansPG000331ItaliansItaly53,220,000Engaged yet UnreachedItalianRoman Catholicism
ItaliansPG049310ItaliansArgentina2,185,000Engaged yet UnreachedItalianRoman Catholicism
ItaliansPG000164ItaliansFrance1,235,000No Longer UnreachedItalianRoman Catholicism
ItaliansPG043415ItaliansCanada865,000No Longer UnreachedItalianRoman Catholicism
ItaliansPG042901ItaliansGermany709,000Engaged yet UnreachedItalianRoman Catholicism
ItaliansPG043282ItaliansUnited States551,000Engaged yet UnreachedItalianRoman Catholicism
ItaliansPG000591ItaliansSwitzerland336,000Engaged yet UnreachedItalianUnaffiliated
ItaliansPG000059ItaliansBelgium288,000Engaged yet UnreachedItalianRoman Catholicism
ItaliansPG000645ItaliansUnited Kingdom243,000Engaged yet UnreachedItalianRoman Catholicism
ItaliansPG049311ItaliansSpain229,000Engaged yet UnreachedItalianRoman Catholicism
ItaliansPG049312ItaliansVenezuela122,000Engaged yet UnreachedItalianRoman Catholicism
ItaliansPG046925ItaliansBrazil50,000Engaged yet UnreachedItalianRoman Catholicism
ItaliansPG000505ItaliansSan Marino31,000Unengaged and UnreachedItalianRoman Catholicism
ItaliansPG000025ItaliansAustria26,000Unengaged and UnreachedItalianRoman Catholicism
ItaliansPG000370ItaliansLuxembourg23,500Engaged yet UnreachedItalianRoman Catholicism
ItaliansPG000376ItaliansMalta11,000Unengaged and UnreachedItalianRoman Catholicism
ItaliansPG018341ItaliansNew Caledonia8,800Unengaged and UnreachedItalianRoman Catholicism
ItaliansPG022233ItaliansMonaco4,300Unengaged and UnreachedItalianRoman Catholicism
ItaliansPG000981ItaliansSlovenia2,300Engaged yet UnreachedItalianRoman Catholicism
ItaliansPG000365ItaliansLiechtenstein1,300Unengaged and UnreachedItalianRoman Catholicism
ItaliansPG050582ItaliansVatican City475No Longer UnreachedItalianRoman Catholicism

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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