Negative record in Italy: As little newborns like never before

It is the Ritual: When the office for national statistics published in Rome his latest data on the demographic development in Italy, it is true, the lawsuit from the "Land without a future" is attached. The this year is no different. But the Outlook is even bleaker: by 2020, to be born as a result of Conviction of demographers because of corona crisis and recession, still less children.

Matthias Rüb

Political correspondent for Italy, the Vatican, Albania and Malta, based in Rome.

last year, 420.170 children came in Italy to the world. This is an historic negative record: have never been since the attainment of national unity through the creation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861, in the Belpaese, in one year, so few children are born – not even in times of war. Compared to 2018 more than 19,000 fewer children came last year to the world, which represents a decline of 4.5 percent. However, more Italians sought once again their happiness in the distance: 182.154 Italians reported their residence in Italy, and were 16.1 per cent more immigrants than in the previous year.

On December 31. December 2019 were in Italy, according to Istat data exactly 60.244.639 people that were 188.721 less than in the previous year. In the past five years, Italy has lost almost 551.000 inhabitants. The decline would have been without the increase of foreign residents even more. At the balance sheet date, the 31. December, lived in Italy 5.306.548 foreign citizens. This corresponds to a proportion of the total population of 8.8 percent. But even with immigration, the Trend is declining: the growth in legal Migration to Italy is weakening, continuously for years, and could flatten in the face of the economic crisis completely.

Slight growth in strong economic regions

Also in the internal population distribution has continued a Trend: The South of the country and Central Italy continue to shrink – the decrease in fraud in 2019, around one percent, while in most Northern Italian regions, the population remains roughly stable. In the economically strong regions of Lombardy and Emilia Romagna could be registered in 2019, even a slight increase in the population. As in previous years, in 2019, in the Autonomous provinces of South Tyrol and Trentino in Northern Italy, is the country's strongest population growth of 0.3 and 0.27 percent.