Despite the contribution of foreigners, equal to 8.7%, Italy is losing population, aging and for the first time falling below 59 million residents.
This is the picture that Istat returns on the basis of data provided by the 2022 census which sees the average age of Italians rise to 46.4 years and marks a further negative record for the birth rate, with 393 thousand births, 7 thousand less than in 2021 (-1.7%) and 183 thousand less (-31.8%) than in 2008.
But above all, it is an Italy that sees for every child under the age of six the presence of more than 5 elderly people (5.6), when in 1971 there was one elderly person for every child. In fifty years, ISTAT points out, the ratio between the elderly, children and young people has become increasingly unbalanced, and he gives the example that if in 1971 there were 46 over 65s for every 100 young people under 15, today there are 193.
A country, where civil unions increased by 31%, marriages grew by 4.8%, with a record of 22.7% for second marriages and with a 21.3% increase in marriages with a foreign spouse. As of December 31, 2022, the population in Italy is 58,997,201 residents, with a decrease compared to 2021 of -32,932 individuals, which 'remains contained," says Istat, "thanks to the positive dynamics of the foreign population." There are 5,141,341 foreigners registered (+2.2% compared to 2021), with an incidence on the resident population of 8.7%. The decrease in population mainly affects small municipalities with up to 5 thousand inhabitants, which represent as much as 70% of Italian municipalities, while large municipalities are holding up.
Women represent 51.2% of the resident population and the weight of the female component is progressively greater as age increases. Campania, with an average age of 43.9 years (it was 43.6 in 2021), continues to be the youngest region while Liguria, with an average age of 49.5 years (it was 49.4 in 2021) is confirmed as the oldest. Orta di Atella, in the province of Caserta, is the municipality with the lowest average age, 36.9 years, while Ribordone, in the province of Turin, a municipality with just 50 inhabitants, is the one with the highest average age, equal to 65.5 years. In 2022, there were 715 thousand deaths, 342 thousand while life expectancy is 80.6 years for men and 84.8 years for women. Compared to 2021, only men show progress, thanks to an increase of about 4 months more in life. As for births, the children of foreign parents are 53 thousand and make up 13.5% of the total. The incidence is higher in the Northern Regions (19.3%) where the foreign presence is more rooted and, to a lesser extent, in those of the Centre (15.1%).
In 2022, the average number of children per woman was 1.24, a slight decrease compared to the previous year (1.25). The average age at childbirth remains stable compared to 2021, at 32.4 years. On the marriage front, Istat points out a slight increase in 2022 compared to the previous year: 189,140, 4.8% more. On the other hand, there was a boom for second (or subsequent) marriages, which represent almost one in 4 marriages: there were 42,918, the highest value ever recorded, for a share of 22.7% of the total. The increase in second marriages is 12.9% compared to 2021. There were 29,574 marriages with at least one foreign groom (15.6% of total marriages), an increase of 21.3% compared to the previous year. In 2022, 56.4% of marriages were celebrated with a civil ceremony, which is more common in second marriages (95.0%) and marriages with at least one foreign spouse (90.3% compared to 50.1% of marriages of both Italian spouses). Finally, there are almost 6 million Italian citizens residing abroad (5 million and 940 thousand), more than half concentrated in Europe (54.7%) and another 40.1% in America.
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