South Tyrol 4.44

South Tyrol, also known by its alternative Italian name Alto Adige, is an autonomous province in northern Italy. It is one of the two autonomous provinces that make up the autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. The province has an area of 7400km2 and a total population of 511,750 inhabitants (31.12.2011). Its capital is the city of Bolzano (German: Bozen; Ladin: Balsan or Bulsan).According to 2014 data based on the 2011 census, 62.3 percent of the population speaks German (Standard German in the written form and an Austro-Bavarian dialect in the spoken form); 23.4 percent of the population speaks Italian, mainly in and around the two largest cities (Bolzano and Merano); 4.1 percent speaks Ladin, a Rhaeto-Romance language; 10.2% of the population (mainly recent immigrants) speaks another language as first language.South Tyrol is granted a considerable level of self-government, consisting of a large range of exclusive legislative and executive powers and a fiscal regime that allows the province to retain a large part of most levied taxes, while nevertheless remaining a net contributor to the national budget. As of 2011, South Tyrol is among the wealthiest regions in Italy and the European Union.