In our country, the birth rate has continued to fall: in 2022, the number of births fell below the 400,000 mark for the first time since the unification of Italy, to 393,000.

This is what emerges from the new Istat report Demographic Indicators: Year 2022, which also looks at other aspects, including life expectancy at birth, mortality, and migratory movements.

According to data from the National Institute of Statistics, there has been a drop of about 184,000 births since 2008, the last year in which there was an increase in births, of which about 27,000 were concentrated from 2019 onwards.

The report explains, "This decrease is only partly due to the spontaneous or forced reluctance of couples to have children. In reality, both the decline in size and the progressive ageing of the female population in the ages conventionally considered reproductive (15 to 49 years) weigh heavily among the causes".

The figures reveal that the region with the highest fertility rate is Trentino-Alto Adige, with a value of 1.51 children per woman; this is followed by Sicily and Campania, with much lower values, 1.35 and 1.33 respectively; while Sardinia is for the third year running the only region with a fertility rate below one (0.95%).

The report is available on the Istat website, on the dedicated page.

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