CWith an aging population and an increasingly smaller number of young people, the birth rate affecting Italy is a phenomenon that continues to cause great concern. According to ISTAT data, in 2024 births decreased by 4,600 units compared to the same period in 2023reaching a new negative record. And from 2008 to today, the decline has been almost 200,000 units, with an overall reduction of 34%. Numbers that show an unprecedented demographic declinewith significant consequences on the country’s economy, society and welfare system.
Decreased birth rate not only due to the economic crisis
This dramatic phenomenon does not happen without reasons, but is fueled by a series of complex factors among which we can include the economic crisis, mainly, but no less the lack of support for families. In an era, therefore, of empty cradles, the event organized by Adnkronos was held today at the Palazzo dell’Informazione in Rome, “Being parents today, between science and welfare“, which turned the spotlight on this national emergency and from which a far from reassuring panorama emerged.
The infertility problem
In fact, while births continue to decline, Fertility problems continue to increasecreating a vicious self-reinforcing cycle. The average age at childbirth reached 32.4 years, marking an increase of over two years compared to 1995. A figure that is not just a statistical number, but represents a profound change in Italian society.
The topic of infertility is often shrouded in taboos and misinformation. But as births decline, infertility problems increase, creating a vicious circle that puts the country’s future at risk (Getty Images)
Little attention to infertility
The investigation “The phenomenon of infertility: perceptions and experiences of Italians“, conducted by the Piepoli Institute, has in fact revealed a reality that is as clear as it is alarming: Italians recognize infertility as a concrete problem that affects both gendersyet they persist in ignoring or underestimating available solutions. It is a paradox, but one that reflects a broader cultural and social malaise.
The narrative on parenting has changed
Maria Rosaria Campitiello, from the Ministry of Health, it placed emphasis on often overlooked causesfrom smoking to sexually transmitted infections, from obesity to a sedentary lifestyle. Professor Nicola Colacurci, however, wanted it make evidentInstead, how the narrative on parenting has changed. «In older generations – he observed – the young person grew up knowing that he would become a parent. Today, however, education privileges individuality, placing personal fulfillment in apparent contrast with the choice to become parents».
A revolution with consequences
This cultural change is not without consequences, but it has profound repercussions on reproductive health. Young people, not thinking from a “parental perspective”, they tend to neglect behaviors that could compromise their future fertility. It is a vicious circle in which the lack of awareness translates into choices that could preclude, years later, the possibility of realizing the desire for parenthood.
The high costs of solving infertility
The picture becomes further complicated, as underlined by Stefania Tosca of “Strada per un Sogno helps”, when couples, not only do they have to deal with general economic difficultiesi, which certainly doesn’t help to think of themselves as parents, but they also find each other having to face the high costs of assisted reproduction.
The problems are known, the solutions less so
As is clear, the problems are ultimately known, the solutions are too often missing. Experts agree that being, however, they cannot be sought in spot measures or isolated interventions. In this scenario, we need an integrated strategy that works with more careful education on parenting and reproductive health. Only a systemic approach, in fact, can reverse this trend which risks compromising the presentbut above all the demographic future of the country.
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