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03 July 2019Live lives in Italy and fewer children. This is a summary of the picture photographed by Istat. According to the data, the population residing in our country, at 31 December 2018, is more than 124 thousand units lower than the previous year.

There are 55 million Italians
The drop is entirely attributable to the Italian population, which drops to 55 at 31 December 2018
104 thousand million, 235 thousand less than the previous year (-0.4%). Compared to 2014, the loss of Italians is equal to the disappearance of a large city like Palermo

It is the fourth consecutive year of decrease in the number of residents: since 2015 there are over 400 thousand fewer people, an amount greater than the inhabitants of the seventh municipality plus
populous of Italy.

The numbers
The resident population in Italy decreased by 124,427 units in 2018 equal to -0.2%. As of January 1, 2019, 60,359,546 people live in Italy, of which 8.7% are foreigners. The drop in enrollments from abroad is -3.2%, mainly due to the decrease in foreign immigrants

Births are falling
Another fact that emerges from the research is the drastic drop in births. The decrease in births in 2018 is over 18 thousand units compared to 2017 equal to -4%. 439,747 children were registered in the birth registry, a new historical low for the beautiful country.

The primacy of Bolzano
The birth rate of the whole resident population is 7.3 per thousand. The record is held by the autonomous province of Bolzano (10.0 per thousand) while in Sardinia (5.7 per thousand) and Liguria (5.6 per thousand) the lowest values ​​are recorded.

The relationship with deaths
The Italian population has long lost its growth capacity due to the natural dynamics, that due to the "replacement" of those who die with those born. During 2018 the difference between births and deaths (natural balance) was negative and equal to -193 thousand units. The natural balance of the overall population is negative everywhere, except in the autonomous province of Bolzano. At national level, the natural growth rate stands at -3.2 per thousand and varies from +1.7 per thousand in Bolzano to -8.5 per thousand in Liguria. Even Tuscany, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Piedmont and Molise have particularly pronounced natural decrements, higher than 5 per thousand. The deficit of births with respect to deaths is found exclusively in the population of Italian citizenship (-251 thousand). For the foreign population, the natural balance is largely positive (+57,554) due to the higher birth rate, compared to the Italians, and the very low mortality due to the young age of foreigners. The highest value is registered in Emilia-Romagna (13.8 per thousand), the lowest in Sardinia (5.9 per thousand).

Foreigners
Foreigners taking Italian citizenship are decreasing: Istat affirms it in the 2018 Demographic Report. The decrease in the number of acquisitions of citizenship is already observed starting from 2017, after the strong growth trend of the immediately preceding years.

Foreign citizens who became Italian in 2018 are less than 113 thousand, 22 per thousand foreigners, 23% less than in 2017. As of January 1, 2018, the Italians by acquisition of citizenship totaled over 1 million and 340 thousand in the resident population; 56.3% of the cases are women. Adding this population to that of foreign citizens, a quota of almost 6.5 million foreign citizens or of foreign origin is obtained.

We always move from south to north
On the other hand, the movement up and down the Italian boot is still stable. During 2018 internal transfers of residence involved more than 1 million and 350 thousand people, in line with the 2017 figure. According to a well-established model, population movements occur mainly from the regions of the South to those of the North and Center.

The internal migration rate varies between -5.2 per thousand in Calabria and 3.5 per thousand in the autonomous province of Bolzano. All the regions of the South and the Islands have negative values, to which are added slightly negative values ​​also of Marche and Umbria. Internal migrations are also due to the movements of foreigners residing in our country who, compared to Italians, have a greater propensity to move, but follow a similar direction. Although they represent 8.7% of the population, they contribute 18.1% to the internal movement.