Italy’s falling birth rate, April 28th, 2023

Rome’s magnificent Palazzo Borromeo, the Italian Embassy to the Holy See, hosted a conference on Italy’s dramatic falling birth rate, one of the lowest in the world.

Host of the event was Italian Ambassador Francesco Di Nitto.  Keynote speakers included Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council on Culture, and the former President of the Italian Constitutional Court Giuliano Amato who was also from 1992 to 1993 Italy’s Prime Minister.

 
Together with Japan, Italy has one of the lowest birth rates in the world together with also an ageing population.  The current population in Italy of 60+ million people has instead slightly dipped to 59 million.  By 2050 it is estimated that it will reach 51 million and in 60 years it might reach the dramatic level of 39 million people.   

 
Social and economic/fiscal problems (such state-run support for struggling families) as well as the recent Covid-19 pandemic are all contributing in one way or the other to Italy’s falling birth rate.   And the ongoing influx of many migrants who are washing up on the shores of southern Italy do not appear for the time being to be a solution to the problem.