Brief Review

Demographics

The population of Italy has started to stabilize after experiencing significant decline in the late 20th century, but the projections according to the National Statistics Office (Istituto Nazionale di Statistica/ ISTAT) remain grim. The population is expected to grow from just over 59 million in 2015 to just under 56 million in 2050. This downward trend, due in large part to people having fewer children (an average of 1.4 per family), and more young people moving to the larger northern cities in an attempt to find jobs, may also mean that some smaller Italian towns will eventually fade into extinction.

Over six percent of Italy's 59 million inhabitants hail from other lands. According to the latest statistics from Caritas Italiana and the Fondazione Migrantes and reported in the country's most respected newspaper, Corriere della Sera, "Five out of every ten immigrants are Europeans, half of whom are EU citizens, four are Africans or Asians and one is American […] One wedding in eight now involves a non-Italian citizen, although only 20% of mixed marriages involve Italian brides." Projections show that foreign residents will comprise 16 percent of Italy's population within 30 years.