ROME (ITALPRESS) – In Italy, 2024 highlights a demographic dynamic in many ways in continuity with that of recent post-pandemic years. As Istat notes, along with a limited decline in the resident population, which moreover continues to age, the confirmation of a strongly negative natural dynamic, the effects of which are mitigated by a more than positive migration dynamic, and the progressive contraction of the average household size, 2024 adds elements whose magnitude should be emphasized.
These include an all-time low in fertility, life expectancy exceeding pre-pandemic levels, increased expatriations of Italian citizens, and a new high in acquisitions of Italian citizenship, which is, however, accompanied by significant growth in the foreign resident population.
As of December 31, 2024, the resident population numbered 58 million 934 thousand individuals (provisional data), down 37 thousand from the same date in the previous year. The decrease in population has continued uninterruptedly since 2014, and the decrease in 2024 (-0.6 per thousand) is in line with what was observed in previous years (-0.4 per thousand in 2023 and -0.6 per thousand in 2022).
The decline in population does not involve all areas of the country across the board. While the population in the North increases by 1.6 per thousand, the Center and the South record negative changes of -0.6 per thousand and -3.8 per thousand, respectively.
Regarding the fertility rate, with 1.18 children per woman the low of 1.19 in 1995 is exceeded, a year in which 526 thousand children were born compared to 370 thousand in 2024.
For the resident population as a whole, life expectancy at birth is 83.4 years, almost 5 months longer than in 2023. Boom in emigration for foreign countries: there are 191 thousand (+20.5% over 2023), of which as many as 156 thousand involve Italian citizens who expatriate (+36.5%).
New Italian citizens are increasing: there are 217 thousand acquisitions of Italian citizenship granted to foreign nationals residing in Italy, surpassing the previous high of 214 thousand reached in 2023. Families are getting smaller: their average size drops in 20 years from 2.6 members to the current 2.2 (average 2023-2024).
-Photo IPA Agency-.
(ITALPRESS).
