(Finance) – Yet another historic low in births, the eleventh in a row since 2013. In 2023 the born residents they were in Italy 379 thousand, with a birth rate of 6.4 per thousand (it was 6.7 per thousand in 2022). Based on data published by Istat in the report on demographic indicators, the decrease in births compared to 2022 is 14 thousand units (-3.6%). Since 2008, the last year in which there was an increase in Italy births, the drop is 197 thousand units (-34.2%). The average number of children per woman thus falls from 1.24 in 2022 to 1.20 in 2023, very close to the historic minimum of 1.19 children recorded way back in 1995.
In addition to the declining birth rate, also the mortality is in sharp decline with 11 deaths per 1,000 inhabitants: there are 661 thousand, 8% less than in 2022. The report then underlines that in 2023 there were more immigrants it’s less emigrants of the previous year: the net migratory balance rises from +261 thousand in 2022 to +274 thousand in 2023. Decline demographic more sensitive in the municipalities of the internal areas of the South: variation of approximately 5 per thousand less than the previous year; reduction of population in four out of five municipalities. Foreign resident population growing: 5 million and 308 thousand individuals on 1 January 2024, +166 thousand on the previous year.
As of January 1, 2024 the resident population in Italy it is equal to 58 million 990 thousand units (provisional data), down by 7 thousand units compared to the same date of the previous year (-0.1 per thousand inhabitants). Confirming what already emerged in 2022 (-33 thousand units), the slowdown in the population decline continues which, from 2014 to 2021 (-2.8 per thousand on annual average), characterized the country as a whole. The change in the population in 2023 reveals a heterogeneous picture among the breakdowns geographical. In the Noon the variation is negative, moreover consisting of -4.1 per thousand. In the North, however, the population increased by 2.7 per thousand. That of the Center is stable (+0.1 per thousand).
At a regional level, the population is increasing especially in Trentino Alto Adige (+4.6 per thousand), in Lombardy (+4.4 per thousand) and in Emilia Romagna (+4.0 per thousand). The regions, however, in which the most population has been lost are Basilicata (-7.4 per thousand) and Sardinia (-5.3 per thousand).