ROME - Births in Italy dropped to a record low in 2023, the 15th consecutive annual decline, national statistics bureau Istat said on March 29, as the population continued to shrink.
Italy’s ever-falling birth rate is considered a national emergency, but despite successive governments pledging to make it a priority, none has so far been able to halt the drop.
In 2023, Italy recorded 379,000 births, a 3.6 per cent decline from 2022 and a 34.2 per cent drop from 2008 – the last year the country saw an increase in the number of babies born. It was also the lowest number since the country’s unification in 1861.
The fertility rate fell to 1.2 children per woman from 1.24 in 2022 – far below the rate of 2.1 needed for a steady population.
Some 661,000 deaths were registered in 2023, a fall from the previous three years when Covid-19 boosted the mortality rate in Italy.
Istat said life expectancy also jumped in 2023 to 83.1 years, up six months compared with 2022.
While there were some 282,000 more deaths than births in 2023, Italy’s overall population fell by only 7,000 to 58.99 million, thanks to the arrival of more foreign migrants and returning Italian emigrants.
Foreigners made up 8.99 per cent of the country’s population in 2023, for a total of 5.3 million, up 3.2 per cent year on year, with the majority living in the north of the country.
Italy’s overall population has been falling steadily since 2014, with a cumulative loss since then of more than 1.36 million people, equivalent to the residents of Milan, the country’s second-biggest city.
Istat said in September that Italy could lose almost 10 per cent of its residents in the next 25 years, with the population set to decline, under a baseline scenario, to 54.4 million by 2050.
Underscoring Italy’s rapidly ageing population, Istat said on March 29 that almost one in four residents was above the age of 65, with more people aged over 80 than under 10 for the first time. Half a century ago, the ratio was one to nine.
The number of centenarians hit a new high of 22,500. REUTERS
