Helmuth Rier
Society
Somewhat more than 500,000 people live in South Tyrol. Of these, 70% speak German, 25% Italian and 5% speak the Ladin language. Bozen-Bolzano is our provincial capital with 105,000 inhabitants. The seven other large towns are Meran-Merano, Brixen-Bressanone, Leifers-Laives, Bruneck-Brunico, Sterzing-Vipiteno, Klausen-Chiusa and Glurns-Glorenza. We place a very high value on education in our country. The Free University of Bozen-Bolzano is the first trilingual university in Europe, with German, Italian and English as the languages of instruction. Our apprenticeship scheme enables young people learning a trade to have a theoretical and practical education whilst at the same time experiencing a direct involvement in the world of work.