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15 December 2020Italy is an increasingly old country.

The confirmation comes from the first data of the permanent population census released by Istat.

All age groups under 44 see their relative weight decrease compared to 2011 while the number of people aged 45 and over increases significantly, passing from 48.2% in 2011 to 53.5% in 2019.



The average age of Italians increased by two years in 2019 compared to 2011 (from 43 to 45 years) and the old age index, i.e. the ratio between over 65 and under 15, increased up to 180%, we read in the Istat Census on 2019 according to which "The number of elderly people per child goes from less than one in 1951 to five in 2019 (it was 3.8 in 2011) and the old age index (given by the ratio between the population of 65 and over and those under the age of 15) has significantly increased, from 33.5% in 1951 to almost 180% in 2019 (148.7% in 2001) ". 



The youngest municipality is Orta di Atella, in the province of Caserta, with an average age of 35.3 years;

the oldest is Fascia, in the province of Genoa, where the average age exceeds 66 years.

Campania, with 42 years, is the region with the youngest population, followed by Trentino Alto Adige (43 years), Sicily and Calabria (both with 44 years).

Liguria is confirmed as the region with the highest average age (49 years).

Also in 1951 Campania and Liguria were the youngest and oldest regions but, for both, the average age was 13-14 years lower than that recorded in 2019.



The average age of foreigners is lower 11.5 years compared to that of Italians (34.7 years against 46.2 years in 2019).

The number of people reaching working age is also higher than those about to retire from work. 



In Italy 59.6 million residents in 2019, - 175 thousand

residents in Italy

drop

again in 2019: at the end of the year - according to the Istat census - the population censored in Italy at 31st amounts to 59,641,488 residents, about 175 thousand people less than at 31 December 2018, equal to -0.3%, but is substantially stable in comparison with 2011 (year of the last traditional census), when there were 59,433,744 residents (+ 0.3%, for a total of +207,744 individuals).

Compared to 2011, the number of residents decreased in Southern Italy and the Islands (-1.9% and -2.3%), and increased in Central Italy (+ 2%) and in both areas of the North.

In detail, inflation remains negative for the seventh consecutive month mainly due to the prices of energy goods (-8.6%, from -8.7% the previous month), but the slight easing of the decline compared to that of October is due to the prices of recreational, cultural and personal care services (from + 0.1% to + 0.7%) and the less marked decline in those of transport services (from -2.0% to - 1.6%).



Rome the largest municipality, Morterone the smallest

The largest Italian municipality is Rome with 2.8 million inhabitants, the smallest one in Morterone, in the province of Lecco, with 30 inhabitants.

This is what emerges from the first definitive data of the Italian population census.



Foreigners exceed 5 million, +43,480

In Italy the overall population decreases but the foreign population increases which in 2019 exceeded five million (5,039,637) thanks to a growth of 43,480 units compared to 2018. Between 2001 and 2019 foreigners increased by 3.7 million.

However, the growth of foreigners has not been able to compensate for the decrease in the overall resident population in Italy (-175.185 units) which, in fact, is equivalent to a demographic decline of almost 220 thousand indigenous residents.

In 2019, the weight of the foreign component with respect to the total population was 8.4 individuals for every 100 registered.



Italy in deflation for seven months

Italy has been in deflation for the seventh consecutive month, Istat also notes, confirming the preliminary estimates.

And in the comment he observes: "In November the deflationary picture of consumer prices consolidated in the previous months is confirmed. Energy goods are confirmed in decline in both the regulated and non-regulated components, while the prices of the so-called shopping cart show growth It is the magnitude of the decrease in the former which continues to prevail, thus determining, for the seventh consecutive month, negative inflation, as happened in 2016 between February and August.