The number of children born in Italy is heading for a new negative record in 2024, the country’s statistics office said, extending a 16-year slump and marking the lowest birth rate since Italy’s unification in 1861. The falling birth rate is causing alarm in the country, but despite several governments making it a priority, none have succeeded in halting the decline. Between January and July, 4,600 fewer babies were born than in the same period last year, which is a drop of 2.1 percent, the Institute announced.
In the entire year 2023, 379,890 children were born, six per thousand inhabitants. This is 3.4 percent less than 2022 and 34.1 percent less than 2008, the last year when the birth rate was positive.
Data for the first seven months of the year show that the fertility rate, or average number of children born to a woman, of 1.2 is below the 2.1 rate needed to maintain a stable population. Italy’s demography in terms of economic growth potential from 2023 to 2040 is the worst in Europe and an aging population is a threat to the sustainability of public finances. Other data from the institute show that Italian women on average give birth to their first child at age 31 and that 42.2 percent of babies are born to unmarried women, up from 41.5 percent last year.
