Italy Undergoing Non-Linear Demographic Collapse

July 4, 2019 (EIRNS)—New official statistics on the demographic decline in Italy show that the dynamic has accelerated. There was a total of 340,000 newborn babies in 2018, a 4% drop year on year and the lowest figure since the Italian nation was created in 1861.

Not only is the rate of children per couple low, but also the rate of potential mothers is decreasing as the population ages. This adds up to a non-linear collapse which is going to accelerate in the next years if the trend is not reversed. The overall population is stable at 60 million because of legal immigrants, who continue having babies, but the number of non-immigrant residents has dropped to 55 million.

The collapse is a combination of economic factors (young people without a job don’t build families) and cultural factors (the result of five decades of boomer mentality). It does not take much to alter the trend: follow the model of China’s economic and subsequent demographic growth, typified by the Belt and Road Initiative.