Italy's population could shrink by 11,5 million people over the next 50 years, according to new forecasts released Thursday (22) by the National Institute of Statistics (Istat).
According to the report, the number of inhabitants in the country was 59,2 million on January 1 in 2021, but is expected to increase to 57,9 million in 2030, 54,2 million in 2050 and 47,7 million in 2070, if the current trend of demographic decline continues.
This would mean a population reduction of approximately 20% in half a century, with potentially damaging effects on the national economy. Istat's forecast is that the country will have twice as many deaths (788 thousand) as births (390 thousand) in 2049.
The share of elderly people over 65 years old will grow from 23,5% in 2021 to 34,9% in 2050. Over the next 10 years, 80% of Italian municipalities are expected to register a population drop, a proportion that increases to 90% in rural areas.
Italy has had more deaths than births since 2007, but, for a time, immigration managed to compensate for this difference, something that has not happened since the middle of the last decade, despite the arrival of hundreds of thousands of internationally displaced people via the Mediterranean.
The trend towards population emptying has already given rise to several initiatives to try to reverse this situation, from houses for one euro in medieval and increasingly uninhabited villages to government payments for families with children.
By Handle
FOLLOW-US
