Italy's falling birth rate is a crisis that's only getting worse
Italy has long had one of the lowest birth rates in the EU, and the country is ageing at a much faster rate than other member states, and it appears to be getting worse, Euronews reports.
According to government statistics, the average number of children per Italian woman has dropped from 1.24 in 2022 to 1.2 in 2023. Experts say that if the country's population crisis continues, Italy’s population of 59 million could fall by almost 1 million by 2030.
And the effects of the crisis are already being felt, with the ageing of the population causing problems for Italy's healthcare and pension systems.
Addressing the crisis is one of the government’s core policies, and a top priority of the parliament's ruling far-right party, the Brothers of Italy. But while the argument over how to solve the population crisis has been politicised for years, many are arguing that a consensus on a solution needs to be found.
The problems with the way the crisis is currently handled were recently on display at a two-day conference held in Rome.
The event offered a chance to discuss what is being described as a cross-party national emergency, but a brief interruption by a group of young activists who attacked the government’s anti-abortion measures showed how politically divisive the subject still is.
Organisers stressed that a private institution was behind the event, not the government.
