Italy has reached a new historic low in the number of births, dropping below 400,000 in 2022, according to the national statistics bureau ISTAT. The population has
continued to shrink, and the lack of babies is considered a national emergency. Fixing this problem was a prominent policy pledge by Giorgia Meloni, the country's first female prime minister, ahead of last year's election.
In its annual demographic report, ISTAT revealed that last year, Italy recorded more than 12 deaths for every seven births, and the resident population fell by 179,000 to 58.85 million. However, the population decline slowed somewhat compared with 2021 and 2020, two years heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
ISTAT reported that Italy recorded 392,600 births in 2022, a decrease from 400,249 the previous year, marking the 14th consecutive fall and the lowest number since the country's unification in 1861. The institute noted that "a major factor is the reduction and the ageing of the female population in the 15-49 age group conventionally considered reproductive."
The fertility rate slightly edged down to 1.24 children per woman from 1.25 in 2021, with a decline in central and northern regions and a marginal increase in the south. However, the trend was partly offset by immigration, with immigrants exceeding emigrants by 229,000 last year, compared with a net inflow of 160,000 in 2021. Foreigners made up 8.6% of the country's population in 2022, for a total of 5.05 million.
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 predicted in September that Italy could lose almost a fifth of its residents, with the population set to decline, under a baseline scenario, to 54.2 million in 2050 and 47.7 million in 2070.
In its latest report, ISTAT said that one in four people in Italy is above the age of 65, while the number of centenarians has tripled to 22,000 over the last 20 years. Life expectancy at birth stood at 82.6 in 2022, with people in wealthy central and northern regions living longer than those in poorer southern ones.
The decline in Italy's population is concerning, and the country will need to address the issue to ensure its future economic and social stability. The government has implemented several measures to encourage childbirth, such as offering financial incentives and increasing the availability of childcare services. However, these measures have had limited success, and a more comprehensive approach may be necessary to reverse the trend of a shrinking population. Photo by Andrés Nieto Porras from Palma de Mallorca, España, Wikimedia commons.