Istat, birth rate at historic lows: 713,000 deaths against 393,000 births
The resident population in Italy as of 1 January 2023, “in the light of the first provisional results”, it is 58 million and 851 thousand units, 179 thousand less than the previous year, for a reduction of 3%.
Thus, the trend continues population decreasebut with a lower intensity than both in 2021 (-3.5%) and above all in 2020 (-6.7%), years during which the effects of pandemic they had accelerated a process that had already begun in 2014. This is what emerges from the latest report State on the 2022 demographic indicators.
“Having established that in 2022 the resident population shows a decrease similar to that of 2019 (-2.9%) – reads the report – at the territorial level there is a population decline important that affects the Noon (-6,3%).
Il center (-2.6%) and especially the Nord (-0.9‰), which despite presenting a negative demographic balance, have values better than the national average”. At the regional level, the population is increasing only in Trentino-Alto Adige (+1.6%), in Lombardy ( +0.8%) and in Emilia-Romagna (+0.4%).The regions, on the other hand, where the most population has been lost are Basilicata, Molise, Sardinia and Calabria, all with more down by -7%.
Birth rate at historic low, mortality still high: less than 7 newborns and more than 12 deaths per 1,000 inhabitants
The decline in the resident population (-3% as of 1 January 2023) “is the result – the researchers explain – of an unfavorable demographic dynamic which sees an excess of deaths over births, not compensated by migratory movements with foreign countries. The deaths are states 713 thousand, le births 393 thousand, reaching a new historic low, with a natural balance therefore of -320 thousand units.
Also according to the report data, one in four Italians is at least 65 years old. Despite the large number of deaths occurred in the last three years, over two million and 150 thousand, of which 90% concerning people over 65 years of age, the aging process of the population has continued – the researchers explain – bringing the average age of the population from 45.7 at 46.4 years between early 2020 and early 2023.
Therefore, in this period the resident population aged on average by at least a further eight months. The over-65 population, which together totals 14 million 177 thousand individuals at the beginning of 2023, constitutes 24.1% of the total population against 23.8% in the previous year.
In the specific case of the very elderly, most affected by super-mortality, i.e. the over eighty year olds, there is however an increase which brings them to 4 million 530 thousand and to represent 7.7% of the total population, against 7.6% of the last year. On the contrary, both individuals of working age and younger people are decreasing: 15-64 year olds drop from 37 million 489 thousand (63.5%) to 37 million 339 thousand (63.4%), while young people up to 14 years of age decreased from 7 million 490 thousand (12.7%) to 7 million 334 thousand (12.5%). The center and the Nord have a slightly higher proportion of over-65s than the national one, respectively equal to 24.7% and 24.6%. In the Noon this proportion is instead 23%.
The over eighty they constitute 8.2% of the total population in the North and Center and 6.8% in the South. Liguria is the oldest region, with a share of over 65s equal to 28.9% and those over 80 of 10.4%. Followed by Friuli-Venezia Giulia (26.9% and 9.1%) and Umbria (26.8% and 9.2%). The region with the lowest percentages of over sixty-five e over eighty it is Campania (20.6% and 5.6%), followed by Trentino-Alto Adige (21.8% and 7%) and Sicily (22.9 and 6.7%).
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