In Italy, the demographic trend in 2022 continues to be negative: as at 31 December 2022, the resident population was 179,000 fewer (-0.3%) than at the beginning of the year, despite the positive contribution of the migratory balance with foreign countries .
Istat says it explaining that the natural balance of the population is strongly negative.
Births are further down (-1.9%), but with slight signs of recovery in the South. Deaths are still at high levels, also due to the increase recorded in the summer months due to excessive heat.
Migratory movements are also on the rise due to the effects of the war in Ukraine.
According to provisional data from Istat, over 187 thousand weddings were celebrated in 2022, an increase compared to 2021 (+4.1%), the year in which the loss of celebrations in 2020, due to the restrictive measures due to the pandemic, was only partially filled.
The recovery of marriages is also observed compared to 2019 (+2%) but is essentially due to the increase in civil marriages (+10% in 2022 compared to 2019, +9.2% compared to 2021), a type that even in the midst of the pandemic was less penalised, showing smaller reductions than religious marriages.
In 2022 religious marriages were down (-1.8% compared to 2021, -6.8% compared to 2019) also in the months between May and September, the period in which most weddings of this type are traditionally celebrated.
Compared to the same months of 2021, in fact, a decrease of -4.1% was observed (-4.9% on 2019).
Comparing 2022 with 2021 - explains Istat - the most recovering type of marriage is that with at least one spouse in the second marriage (+12.7%), while the first marriages of both spouses increase significantly more contained (+1.2%).
Among the latter, only those celebrated with civil ceremonies are growing (+6.5%), while the first religious marriages show a decrease of 2.7%.
In 2022, there were over 2,000 civil unions established between people of the same sex, up 31% on 2021 (+22.5% on 2019), which portends "a robust, if not total" recovery of what was lost in the pandemic year.