ROME (Reuters) – Births in Italy are projected to reach a historic low this year, according to preliminary data indicating a worsening of the country’s persistent demographic crisis.
The data from the national statistics bureau ISTAT reveals a decline of 3,500 births during the period of January to June compared to the same period in 2022.
In 2022, the overall number of births decreased by 1.7% to 393,000, marking the 14th consecutive annual decline and the lowest figure since Italy’s unification in 1861.
Prime Minister has recently allocated approximately 1 billion euros ($1.05 billion) to implement measures addressing this crisis, which is partly driven by the challenges Italian women face when combining work and motherhood. This issue is considered a national emergency for the euro zone’s third-largest economy.
A declining and aging population leads to reduced productivity and increased welfare costs in a country that already possesses the highest state pension expenses among the 38 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
According to ISTAT’s report, based on the data from January to June, it is anticipated that the fertility rate in 2023 will slightly decrease to 1.22 children per woman, compared to 1.24 in 2022.
While immigrants have a positive impact on the rate, Italian women’s fertility rate stood at just 1.18 in 2022.
Moreover, the report highlights that Italian women, on average, have their first child at the age of 31, and 41.5% of babies born last year were to unmarried women.
($1 = 0.9482 euros)
(Reporting by Antonella Cinelli, editing by Gavin Jones and John Stonestreet)
