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Births in Italy fell by 3.6% in 2023, reaching a record low and raising concerns for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s efforts to address the country’s aging population. One senator from Meloni’s ruling party echoed Pope Francis’ call for Italians to have more children, stating that having children should be Italian women’s “main mission.”
Watch the video above as Straight Arrow News contributor Peter Zeihan examines the declining population in Italy and Europe, and suggests potential solutions to mitigate the negative impacts.
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Excerpted from Peter’s July 8 “Zeihan on Geopolitics” newsletter:
While the Italians may have mastered the arts of pasta, wine and gelato, they should have been spending less time in the kitchen and more in… another room. That’s right, we’re looking at the demographic problems facing Italy, and Genoa will be our example.
The population of Genoa in 1972 was 950,000. Today, it is under 680,000. The scary part is that Genoa isn’t an isolated instance. Italy’s birth rate has been below replacement level for over 75 years, leading to an aging population and a shrinking tax base. The scarier part is that Italy is just one example of a country facing demographic collapse, as places like Germany, Romania, and Spain are all in the same boat.
Unfortunately, there’s really no practical solutions for these countries to remedy this issue. Sustaining their economies and state functions without a younger generation won’t be easy, but at least we’ll see how nations can adapt to these demographic challenges.
