(Finance) – “Every year we set the record for the lowest birth rate ever. In 2021 we have 400,000 births and in the first 11 months of 2022, compared to the same months of ’21, 3% fewer births. The data from the entire 2022, however it is likely that the ceiling of 400,000 births has been breached downwards”. This is the alarm raised by president of Istat Gian Carlo Blangiardo on the occasion ofAssembly of the Family Forum, which focused on the theme of falling birth rates and public support for families, and in view of the publication of the Institute’s updated report next Monday.
“Italy is a patient whose diagnosis is clear – he observed Blandish – and we also know what the therapies would be. Something has been done, however, we need to continue in that direction and accentuate some aspects. I am thinking above all of the work-life balance because the theme is not only the cost of children, but that children bind and condition life plans. So the idea of having a baby likes it but couples wait. We know what the weaknesses are.”
Blandish he observed that Italy is “a country that has lost 1 million inhabitants in the last 4 years. We are a large country because – he added – we have an important demographic dimension, if we lose it we will no longer be a large country”. It is not just a question of status, but – as noted by theIstat – stability of the welfare system, population aging and sustainability of health expenditure.
L’Statistical Institute has already estimated that from 59.2 million as of 1 January 2021 it will drop to 57.9 million in 2030, then the decline will increase to 54.2 million in 2050 up to 47.7 million in 2070.
“The government has a great responsibility: to carry out a tax reform that finally takes serious account of family composition and the strategic role of families – said the president of the Family Forum Gigi De Palo, pressing the executive on fiscal delegation and support policies -. We ask to improve the single allowance as early as next year: it is crucial to work today to put resources in November. A tax reform that takes progressiveness into account, we had proposed a family factor. And then we also use the Pnrr funds in terms of birth rates”.