Italy's Births Set to Fall to a Record Low in 2026 as Fertility Rate Slips to 1.13, ISTAT Says
Italy's births are set to drop further this year to a historic low, aggravating the country's demographic crisis, national statistics bureau ISTAT said on Wednesday, October 21.
Italy last year recorded just 355,772 births, the lowest figure since Italian unification in 1861, and the 17th consecutive year in which the figure declined. In the first seven months of 2026 the negative trend continued, with just under 197,000 newborns, down 1.1 percent from the same period of 2025, ISTAT said. The fertility rate, measuring the average number of children born to each woman of child-bearing age, edged down in January-July to 1.13, from last year's record low of 1.14.
ISTAT also reported that in 2025 the average age of women when they had their first child was 32, broadly in line with the year before, and that 44.1 percent of children were born to unmarried parents, up from 43.2 percent the year before. The most common first names given to Italian children born last year were Sofia for girls and Leonardo for boys. Italy's long-declining birth rate is considered a national emergency, and despite pledges by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her predecessors to confront the issue, no one has been able to halt the drop. (Compiled from Reuters, October 21)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
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