Rome, Dec. 6 (BNA): Italy’s national statistics agency said today, Monday, that Italy’s population has fallen to less than 59 million, and that the country is aging at a much faster rate than its counterparts in the European Union.
Reuters reported that a shrinking and aging population is a major concern for a stagnant economy like Italy because it is linked to lower productivity, less innovation and higher welfare bills among other things.
“As of January 1, 2022, according to preliminary preliminary data, the (resident) population has decreased to 58.983 million,” Giancarlo Blangiardo, head of the institute, told a parliamentary hearing in Rome.
The country’s population has been steadily shrinking since 2014, said Blangiardo, the noted demographer, with a cumulative loss since then of more than 1.36 million inhabitants.
“The demographic outlook of our country is characterized by a significant growth in life expectancy and a marked decline in the birth rate, which leads to a faster aging of the population compared to the rest of Europe,” he said.
In September, Istat projected that Italy would lose nearly a fifth of its population, with the population projected to decline, under a base scenario, from 59.2 million in 2021 to 54.2 million in 2050 and 47.7 million in 2070.
Reversing this trend and supporting families is a stated priority for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s new right-wing government. In its 2023 budget, it proposed lowering sales taxes on child care products and raising child benefits.
MI