Venice Population

Venice population and why we are so few.

Venice’s population is diminishing. Every year fewer people choose to live their everyday lives in the lagoon city. Every year the red figures hit us with the image of a depressed and aging city. 

The number of residents in the historical center of Venice in 2024 is just below 50.000. In the early 50s in the same area lived more than 175.000. Venice has had a steeper decline in inhabitants in the city center, and it has lasted longer, than comparable Italian cities.

venice population

Since the beginning of 2000 when mass tourism truly hit the lagoon city, organizations for the residents in Venice regularly protest against a phenomenon out of control. Their anger is directed not so much towards the tourists but more so against the politicians and the authorities who supposedly refuse to guarantee even the most elementary service for someone who lives in the old town, schools, groceries, and healthcare. In 2019 under the slogan Mi no vado via, I’m not going away thousands of Venetians joined the protests in a joint effort to create awareness.

How many people live in Venice?

Since then that effort and the force with which the protests arose around Venice has somewhat faded. One reason for this is of course that despite protests and various attempts to reach public opinion, there are fewer people in Venice every year. The truth of the matter is that people are still leaving. The historical city of Venice, which is the big fish in the middle of the lagoon, has as of today, January 29, 2024, 49.265 residents. That’s not much if you want to make a difference. But the biggest issue is that this figure is still diminishing.

With that comes a general change in the character of the residents. Less “normal people”, folks with a salary from a job, with children or not, who need shops, schools, services, and houses. When they go they leave room for entrepreneurs and tourism managers… people who work with entertainment, tourism, publicity, or marketing. And they have slightly different demands. The artificialization of Venice might not disturb a hotel manager the same way it does a primary school teacher.

But let’s look at the figures:

Number of residents / Year

Venice historical center

Islands around Venice

Mestre/Marghera

Total

1871

128787

19457

16356

164600

1881

129851

18512

17045

165408

1891

No

Data

1901

146682

21512

20597

188791

1911

154891

23670

28580

207141

1921

159262

26769

37419

223450

1931

163559

32826

53937

250322

1936

163849

34520

65658

264027

1951

174808

44037

96966

315811

1961

137150

49702

161035

347887

1971

108426

48747

205829

363002

1981

93598

49203

206707

349508

1991

76644

47057

190136

313837

2001

65695

32183

176290

274168

2011

58991

29693

181905

270589

2018

52996

27730

179794

260520

General changes in infrastructure and demographics.

Nobody is making children anymore.

So from around the 50s, the historical center of Venice lost more than two-thirds of its population. On the mainland, the situation is different, but from approximately the 70s, Mestre and Marghera too have lost quite a big chunk of their inhabitants. The loss of residents in Venice, the island city, is huge. From any urbanistic point of view, a drop like that of Venice would be very challenging. Still, what happened to Venice wasn’t all that uncommon in Italy in those years. And it has to do with the change in infrastructure, at least to some extent.

Before WW2 the birth rate in Italy was around 3 children for every couple. In the first years after the war, that general trend continued general continued. But very soon a significant drop in natality could be seen. Later in the 70s another drop presented itself and at the beginning of the 1980s, every Italian woman had no more than 1,5 children. That is obviously not a sustainable level, and unfortunately, it continued to drop to what we have today… 1,25 children for every woman. Fewer children means fewer Italians and fewer Venetians. A normal consequence, but that’s not the whole explanation.

And people do not want or can’t afford to live in the city center anymore.

Another important factor is that fewer people stayed in the city center in general, in all of the city centers, all over Europe. The growth after the war has been mainly in the suburbs or in satellite cities, of course depending on the economic and geographical structure of the city. But we have to remember that Venice, that is, the historical Venice built out there on the sandbanks, is all center. The suburbs are practically all on the mainland.

Comparing Venice to other Italian cities shows an interesting context. Because much of the demographic tendencies that are present in Venice can be found in other areas too. Here is an interesting table showing the population in the 15 biggest Italian cities during the late 19th, 20th, and the beginning of the 21st century. The figures show the population of the whole city, suburban areas included. For Venice, that means Mestre and Marghera.

Population in the 15 biggest Italian cities from 1880:

Population Italian Cities

Rome

Milan

Naples

Turin

Palermo

Genoa

Bologna

Florence

Bari

Catania

Venice

Verona

Messina

Padova

Trieste

1881

274000

354000

535000

251000

245000

289000

126000

196000

73000

101000

160000

90000

127000

71000

Not Italian

1891

No

Data

1901

422000

538000

621000

330000

310000

378000

153000

237000

94000

148000

183000

100000

148000

81000

Not Italian

1911

519000

701000

751000

416000

339000

465000

179000

258000

122000

208000

201000

117000

128000

96000

Not Italian

1921

660000

818000

860000

500000

397000

542000

213000

280000

136000

253000

216000

132000

177000

109000

240000

1931

931000

961000

832000

591000

380000

591000

249000

304000

173000

225000

242000

146000

180000

127000

250000

1936

1150000

1116000

866000

629000

412000

635000

281000

321000

198000

245000

255000

154000

192000

139000

248000

1951

1651000

1274000

1011000

719000

491000

688000

341000

375000

268000

300000

306000

178000

221000

168000

273000

1961

2188000

1582000

1183000

1026000

588000

784000

445000

437000

312000

364000

335000

221000

255000

198000

273000

1971

2781000

1732000

1227000

1169000

643000

816000

491000

458000

357000

400000

350000

266000

251000

232000

272000

1981

2840000

1605000

1212000

1117000

702000

763000

459000

448000

371000

380000

334000

256000

260000

235000

252000

1991

2775000

1369000

1067000

963000

699000

679000

404000

403000

342000

333000

299000

256000

232000

215000

231000

2001

2664000

1256000

1005000

865000

687000

610000

371000

356000

317000

313000

271000

253000

252000

205000

211000

2011

2617000

1242000

962000

872000

658000

586000

371000

358000

316000

294000

261000

253000

243000

206000

202000

2017

2875000

1366000

966000

883000

668000

580000

389000

381000

323000

312000

261000

257000

234000

210000

204000

The fertility rate has plummeted.

It’s quite easy to see that all cities, more or less, top their population around 1970. After that, it’s going down. That lines up well with the significant drop in births around that time. As already stated, the fertility rate among Italians is now as low as 1,25 children per couple. That’s among the lowest in Europe. Authorities in Italy have been very slow to pick up on this problem. The tendency could have been perceived already in the 1980s, but our leaders didn’t want to see it. Maybe politicians get blindfolded once they get into office. The total number of newborns increased a little at the beginning of 2000 because of the immigrants. Many of the recent immigrant groups have substantially more children than the Italians. But after 2015 fewer immigrants enter, so that kind of birth rate artificial breathing is no more.

venice population

It’s very easy to see that the trends in Venice as a whole don’t differ very much from the other Italian cities. The decrease in inhabitants is greater and goes on for a longer period, but the population curve is similar. Added to the fact of decreasing Italian city population comes the moving away from the city center to the suburbs. In the case of Venice, that means moving from the lagoon city to the mainland. But Venice is a very special case in that sense. No other Italian city has so clear boundaries between the city center, Venice, and the suburbs, Mestre and Marghera. Something that in other citisìes is a migration from the center to the outskirts, in Venice becomes a radical move to another part of the territory… Like moving to a completely different city.

People flee the center and move towards the outskirts.

In Venice, the escape from the city center also started a little earlier than in the rest of Italy. Already right after the war, people started to move away from the Islands to the mainland. in other cities that exact same trend started a few years later. It’s a small detail. The overall problem is exactly the same as in other places, though.

Milan, Bologna, Turin, Naples, Bari, Palermo… It’s more or less the same in every Italian city. People escape the hustle and bustle of the city center. In many large Italian cities, life as a downtown resident can be challenging. Schools, hospitals, and many other services disappear, and the normal shops close and leave room for souvenir boutiques, aimed at tourists and temporary visitors. Rents go up, it’s noisy and unsafe, you can’t find parking for your car and even if you do, it costs a fortune.

Many Italian cities struggle with these same problems. And in many Italian cities, the houses right there in the city center are definitely expensive. That’s actually something that pops up all the time when you discuss why people don’t want to live in Venice. It’s too expensive.

Let’s take a look. 

Housing prices Euro m2

Rome

Milan

Naples

Turin

Palermo

Genoa

Bologna

Florence

Bari

Catania

Venice

Verona

Messina

Padova

Trieste

Total urban area

3000

3922

2600

1715

1306

1540

2981

4035

1778

1296

2926

1997

1186

1780

1580

Most expensive area - Center 

>5800

>7100

>5200

>3100

1900

>2900

2900

>5100

2300

1900

5800

>3200

>1400

2900

2400

Ratio - Most expensive area : Least expensive area

4,7 : 1

4,2 : 1

4 : 1

3,3 : 1

2 : 1

3 : 1

1,8 : 1

1,8 : 1

1,5 : 1

2,3 : 1

3,3 : 1

2,4 : 1

1,6 : 1

2,5 : 1

2,2 : 1

House prices in Venice

Not even that is particular or in any way unique for Venice. It’s the same story all over Italy and maybe all over Europe. In fact, these tendencies are, at least to some extent, global. The city centers become less populated and more expensive. It’s just that Venice, from a geographic point of view, is uncommon. The center is 8 kilometers away and geographically isolated from the mainland.

venice population

The statistics of house prices in Venice are also somewhat distorted by the fact that so many ultra-billionaires, actors, writers, and other famous and wealthy people live here. Some palaces go for tens of millions of euros and that affects the statistics. The difference between Mestre and Venice is slightly less than what it would seem if you just read the figures.

Schools, hospitals, and other social services in Venice.

Let’s take a look at the next reason for the diminishing numbers in the island city… The lack of service. Many people argue that, as a major reason. The fact that service institutions are disappearing and the ever-smaller population is left alone to try to cope with health- and educational issues. Schools are few and spread out, and the Venice hospital is getting less and less funding. It’s getting harder by the day to raise a family.

Let’s check that too. But this is the last table, I promise.

Service - City of Venice

Mestre/Marghera

Venice historical center

Islands/Lido/Pellestrina

elemantary schools

34

11

8

secondary schools

18

9

4

high schools

20

22

0

university

0

1

0

hospitals

1

1

0

Other health units

5

1

1

Not even this seems valid. Venice actually has more schools than Mestre, considering the number of people living there. It has a hospital, and many people from the mainland go there instead of the hospital in Mestre, for the simple reason that it’s less crowded… It’s easier to get to a doctor.

The Venice population is still diminishing though.

So what is the truth about the residents’ evasion crisis? Why has the Venice population diminished by 70% since 1951?

I would say that to some extent it depends on house prices, anyway. It’s expensive but then again, not more than any other comparable city. Still, a young couple setting up a house for the first time has to choose between a small apartment on the ground floor in Venice with high water coming in through the front door… Or a nice single house with a garden in Mestre. The money is the same, so it’s easy to imagine what they would opt for.

And it’s not just the house that is expensive. Every other aspect of living is much more expensive too. Restauration of an apartment in Venice costs around 50% more just because it’s situated there. Any craftsman or artisan charges much more when working in Venice. The new fridge or TV, that you have to buy, costs more because the transport from Piazzale Roma to your house is expensive. And it continues like that…

But it doesn’t depend in any way on schools, healthcare, and other services in the lagoon city. Those are actually better in Venice than on the mainland.

Instead, two major factors determine the residential habits of the Venetians. Two reasons why so many have left, and still leave the old city:

  1. The evasion started before the other cities. This of course does not affect today’s diminishing population, but it’s an explanation why the figures are bigger than in many other Italian cities. Already after the war, people started abandoning Venice, and in those days it was for other reasons than the increasing tourism. The escape from the city center has gone on for a longer period. The trend could be seen as having lasted for a longer period, but not being steeper.
  2. The artificialization of the city. To me, this is the biggest issue and maybe the most difficult to resolve. It’s tourism in itself that causes the biggest problem, and that’s not only the visitor’s fault, but also our own. The growing impersonality, the superficiality, the lack of quality and genuineness in all things. Every day we see shops, craftsmen, barbers, pharmacies, and others closing just to leave room for bars, restaurants, hotels, and tourist traps of all sorts. And it’s not nice to always have to be careful. and always speak in dialect, just to avoid being ripped off…
Venice population

Conclusion…

So what can we do about it? I really don’t know, because as we sum it all up, it’s not about expensiveness and it’s not about lack of service. And it’s not substantially worse than in other famous tourist magnets, considering the special character of the floating city. Maybe we just have to live with it. In a small town with almost 30 million tourists a year, of course, there have to be consequences.

Which brings me to the many futile efforts to limit the tourist flow. The new and finally implemented tourist tax is one such effort. But Venice lives and thrives on the tourist industry. Without the tourists, Venice would be no more than other small towns up here in the northeast corner of Italy… A Caorle, or a Chioggia, but without the beaches. And if so, the depopulation would probably have been even greater.

And I think about the real crisis that hit Venice in the past… The plague that time after time killed a huge part of the city and left the surviving half with not only grief but with mountains of dead bodies to cope with… And the many wars against Genova, against the Turks, the Holy Roman Empire, the French, the Austrians, and many many others,… And maybe this is just another possibility for the Venetians to demonstrate their ability to stand strong when the wind blows. At least the few still standing…

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