In 2020, there was a new historic low in births since the unification of Italy and a historic high in deaths since the second post-war period.
Births fell 3,8%: almost 16.000 fewer than in 2019, and in 2020 only 404.104 children were registered.
Aosta Valley and Lombardy These are the regions that felt the fall most.
The feeling of distrust generated during the first wave, especially in the North, may have led to the decision to postpone the choice to have a child.
Deaths increased by 17,6%: almost 112 thousand more than in 2019. In fact, in 2020, 746.146 deaths were recorded.
The data emerges from the Istat report on demographic dynamics during the 2020 pandemic, and published in Corriere della Sera, this Friday (26).
At the end of last year, the resident population in Italy was almost 384 thousand units lower than at the beginning of 2019. As if a city the size of Florence, for example, had disappeared from the map.
Overall, 59.257.566 people resided in Italy as of December 31, 2020 – a drop of 0,6%.
According to Istat, the negative effect produced by the Covid-19 epidemic on the “natural replacement”, between births and deaths – the so-called natural balance – is only lower than the record set in 1918 (-648 thousand), when the Spanish epidemic helped determine almost half of the 1,3 million deaths recorded that year.
Fewer weddings
The number of marriages celebrated also fell: 96.687, -47,5% in 2020, the drop mainly concerns (-68,1%) religious weddings, while those with a civil ceremony decreased by 29%.
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