Italy’s low birth rate and aging population has long been recognised, but the more surprising aspect of Istat’s annual report for 2016 is that more people are living alone.
The rate of single-person households increased from 20.5 percent to 31.6 percent, while households made up of five or more people declined to 5.4 percent from 8.1 percent.
Meanwhile, the birthrate is continuing on its downward trend, with 12,342 fewer babies born in 2016 than in the previous year. Italy has the sixth lowest fertility rate in Europe, with 1.35 children born for every woman of child-bearing age.
At the same time, people are living longer, with life expectancy rising to 80.6 years for men and 85.1 years for women.
Italy’s population rate stood at 60,589,455 at the end of 2016, over 76,000 less than at the beginning of the year.
Foreigners make up 8.3 percent of the population, a figure that reflected little change from the previous year. The majority of Italy’s immigrant population come from the EU, followed by central and eastern Europe and North Africa.