ROME, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- The decade ending in 2019 was the hottest on record in Italy, with temperatures 0.96 degree Celsius above the average, the National Research Council (CNR) said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The second decade of the new millennium was the hottest since observations have been available for Italy," the CNR statement said.

Climate data first began to be recorded in Italy in 1800.

"Similar to what happened on a global scale, for Italy each of the last four decades was hotter than the preceding one, pointing to persistent signs of continuously increasing temperatures," the CNR statement noted.

Between 1980 and the present, temperatures have risen by an average of 0.45 degree Celsius per decade, it said.

The last month of 2019 was the second hottest December in Italy since record-keeping began, with temperatures 1.9 degrees Celsius above average, making last year the fourth hottest year in Italy since 1800.

The other three hottest years in Italy were 2018 at 1.17 degrees Celsius above average, followed by 2014 and 2015, with temperatures 1 degree Celsius above average, the CNR said.

Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, the international community agreed to the long-term goal of limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.