The demographic winter in Italy continues, on the one hand, the aging of the population and the lowest number of births in history, the National Institute of Statistics (Istat) announced on Friday, quoted by AFP.

People on the street in Italy Photo: Alessandro Barone/Pacific Press/Shutterstock Editorial/Profimedia

As of January 1, 2023, Italy had approximately 58.851 million inhabitants, which is 179,000 less than a year earlier (-0.3%).

“The number of deaths was 713,000, and the number of births was 393,000, which is a new historical low,” Istat said in a statement.

“In 2022, the number of births fell for the first time since the unification of Italy,” in 1861, “below the 400,000 mark,” Istat said, noting that the decline had been consistent since 2008, the last year there was an increase in births.

At the same time, population aging continued, the average age of the population increased from 45.7 years at the beginning of 2020 to 46.4 years at the beginning of 2023.

People over 65 now make up 24.1% of the population, up from 23.8% a year earlier, while the number of long-timers stands at 22,000 and has tripled in twenty years, according to the same source.

The demographic problem is at the heart of the project of far-right Prime Minister Georgia Maloney, who has made the birth rate an “absolute priority” of her actions.