Italy's falling birth rate is a crisis that's only getting worse ( www.euronews.com )

Italian welfare systems are already struggling to cope with the ageing of the population, and there is no consensus on what to do about it.

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. 

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.

Amoxtli , (edited )

Pregnancy is unfair for women, it is a difficult period of time, a painful birthing, then you have to spend your money to support it for 18 years minimum, which takes away money from other more enjoyable things like beach vacations and big screen TVs. It is easier to have a cat or dog. The new family unit is to maximize the household income and minimize liabilities, which is: Husband, wife, and dog. The new family unit. Animals can fulfill the maternity experiences of a person. Human population growth is bad for the environment too.

geography082 ,

Open the borders and get more population

Wanderer ,

The solution to this is more housing.

Destroy land downtown and put in higher density and more public transport. Put in LVT. Rents and houses will decrease in price. Discretionary income will increase which means taxes can go up but people can actually buy more goods and services. That will grow the job market and the economy and further raise taxes revenue. Then you can also fund things like childcare and paid work leave which will solve the declining birth rate (but I think it should still be below 2 ideally and countries need to deal with that)

There are easy solutions to these problems within the system we have. Nothing extreme needs to be done but they involve governments flexing their muscles and pissing off a few people with money and power (including the people in government making money off this system)

What will actually happen is governments will rather let the whole system collapse in on itself and will increase immigration which will keep house prices high and wages low.

footoro ,

You make it sound like only one issue will fix it. Other countries that tried to increase birth rate, needless to say mostly for nationalistic/racist reasons have so far failed. Look e.g. at Hungary. They try everything but the birth rate is still declining.

There needs to be much more affordable housing and public transportation, but immigration is also inevitable in helping mitigate the effects of the aging population. And I think migration is a good, normal thing to happen. Humans have been moving around all the time, otherwise we wouldn’t be spread all over the globe.

But there also needs to be an environment where people feel comfortable getting children when thinking about climate change and the future world that they’d bring the children into.

So there are many things that go hand in hand and what I read from your comment is more like migration problem must stop, build housing solution done.

Wanderer ,

Lowering population is an overblown issue. House prices will collapse and everyone will have a lot more money to spend on things like kids.

Humans have been moving around all the time, otherwise we wouldn’t be spread all over the globe

That comment is not about immigration that's about expansion. Humans mostly fight other humans that come onto their land, if anything that's the norm. So I don't think that's conveys the point you want.

GiddyGap ,

This is an issue all over the Western world, including the US.

guyrocket ,
@guyrocket@kbin.social avatar

When viewed from an environmental perspective, these falling birth rates are GREAT news. More so in first world countries.

massivefailure ,

Exactly. Countries are crying over this birth rate drop because of bullshit "BUT THE ECONOMY AND THE OLD PEOPLE AND RICH PEOPLE" excuses. Global population needs to drop, now. People will say "but we're not overcrowded, we're fine", yet we're seeing so many problems with the climate, distribution of goods and services, and so on that is directly caused by our current population levels.

Stop having kids, or at least only have one. Fix this world.

SavedKriss ,

Come to Italy, we have precarious jobs, low wages, high taxes for the middle and lower class, widespread tax evasion, companies that delocalize like it's hot, high rents, high interest on credit, zero maintenance for our infrastructure, an understaffed public sector (-50% in some cases), rock-bottom transparency on public spending and a predatorial managerial and politic class. What's not to love?

How could anyone, local or immigrant, afford to have 2.1 babies in this place? No shit the population is growing old.

filister ,

This is pretty much what is happening in most developed economies, unfortunately. Because real estate became a very profitable investment, and as a result we are now running out of affordable accommodation.

Tryptaminev ,

It is going to be interesting, when the baby boomer generation starts dying because of old age. There is only so much that buying up for investment purposes can maintain a market without people wanting to life in the houses.

Linkerbaan ,
@Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

They would leave the houses empty to keep prices high.

popcorp ,

The housing ages as well. Old houses will be torn down and new builds will be regulated to maintain the supply low.

Demographic will definitely also have impact, but so much money is tied in REITs that some sort of bailout is inevitable in case the prices crash.

Triasha ,

Who will bail them out when nobody is working to pay the taxes?

I'm not saying it will work itself out, but at some point the country will start to look like south Africa. The infrastructure will break faster than it can be fixed, degrading the system further and further.

ImFresh3x ,
@ImFresh3x@sh.itjust.works avatar

Italy’s problems aren’t new. Am Italian.

cornshark ,

Although this sounds reasonable, the countries with the highest birth rates in the world are Niger, Chad, Congo and Somalia. If not being able to afford a high quality of life was the cause of decreasing birth rates as you say, we would expect these countries to be doing even worse than Italy because being able to afford your basic needs is even worse there.

dubyakay ,

That's two different causes. Countries with a high birth rate also have a relatively high infant mortality rate and lower life expectancy. The goal there is survival.

Paradoxically high GDP countries also have lower birthrates due to higher cost of living, delays due to economic priorities such as career advancement or travels, accessibile contraception, different family structures and also unfavourable social welfare policies.

Amoxtli ,

More like babies are an unintended byproduct of sex and birth control fixed the unwanted consequences.

Amoxtli ,

Immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa would still prefer Italy. You don't need to focus on babies, open borders fixes the problem.

DieguiTux8623 ,
@DieguiTux8623@feddit.it avatar

It is a country without future, and there is no hope for the situation to improve any time soon. Extremely low wages, no affordable housing, healthcare unavailable and poor access to education/services in general but high taxation. It would be crazy to expect anyone to plan to have a family!

BestBouclettes ,

With a fascist government that will worsen the problem and then blame it on immigrants.

DieguiTux8623 ,
@DieguiTux8623@feddit.it avatar

Remove the "will" and "then" because they are already doing it! 😅

Tryptaminev ,

At least this time round there is not enough young people to send into another world war.

Granixo , (edited )
@Granixo@feddit.cl avatar

And yet they refuse to receive more refugees from Africa and the Middle East.

FlyingSquid Mod ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

"Have you tried robots?" -- Japan, who is going to learn a very harsh lesson in a decade or so.

aeronmelon ,

Japan is accepting more immigrates than ever before.

And the percentage of non-Japanese living in Japan is the highest in its history.

I only say that because I assume you mean that Japan is reluctant to accept immigrants. You're right, many Japanese would rather the country die than open it up to the world. But in practice, immigration has been rising sharply for years.

Miaou ,

Importing wage slaves to feed the capitalist meat grinder is no solution either, but given whom they elected recently it seems the Italian solution to this problem will be inspired from the Handmaid's tale

Iceblade02 ,

Many EU countries did that experiment already during the '10s, and we're living with the consequences. The actual solution is creating a society more suitable for people - which is difficult.

autotldr Bot ,

This is the best summary I could come up with:

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.

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.

Gigi De Palo, head of the Foundation for the Birth Rate, insisted the crisis should be treated as apolitical, pointing out that it affects people in many different demographics.

The general director of the Italian National Institute of Statistics, Sabrina Prati, told Euronews the crisis has been "persistent" for many years.

In 2023 alone the government allocated around 1 billion euros for measures aimed at helping women cope with motherhood and work.

The original article contains 427 words, the summary contains 158 words. Saved 63%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

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