Births in our country continue to decline. In fact, the recent Istat report on the birth rate and fertility of the resident population reveals that there will be 404,892 births in 2020, about 15,000 less than in 2019 (-3.6 percent).

"This is a significant phenomenon," the report explains, "partly due to the 'structural' effects induced by significant changes in the female population at childbearing age, conventionally set between 15 and 49."

The drop in the birth rate continued in 2021. Provisional data referring to the January-September period showed that births were already 12,500 less than in the same period in 2020, almost double the number observed in the same period of the previous year.

Various aspects are analyzed in the report, including the contribution to the birth rate of foreign nationals, which shows a decrease: births to both foreign parents, which fell below 70 thousand in 2016, dropped for the first time in 2020, below the threshold of 60,000 (59,792, 20 thousand less than in 2012), partly as a result of migration dynamics in the last decade, which make up 14.8 percent of the total number of births.

Other data reveal that the average number of children per woman dropped in 2020 to 1.24 for all residents, from 1.44 in 2008-2010.

The average age at birth of the first child increased to 31.4 in 2020 (more than 3 years higher than in 1995).

Other materials and news can be found on this site under the topic, Birth rate, accessible from the "Topics" navigation menu.