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Italy's population stops shrinking after 12 years, thanks to migration
Immigration increased the foreign resident population by 188,000, nearly offsetting a 3.9% drop in births and stabilizing Italy's population at 58.94 million, ISTAT reported.
- On Tuesday, the national statistics agency ISTAT reported Italy's population stabilized at 58.94 million on January 1, ending 12 years of decline as immigration almost entirely offset natural population decreases.
- Net immigration reached 296,000, with 440,000 arrivals from abroad and emigration falling to 144,000, the lowest in a decade. Meanwhile, births dropped to 355,000 in 2025, a record low since Italy's 1861 unification.
- Fertility fell to 1.14 children per woman, well below the 2.1 replacement rate, while life expectancy climbed to 81.7 years for men and 85.7 for women, placing Italy among the longest-living European Union nations.
- Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government oversaw a 188,000-person increase in the foreign resident population, now totaling 5.56 million, while combining strict undocumented migrant policies with expanded work visas for non-EU citizens.
- Without sustained migration inflows, Italy's population will resume shrinking and intensify long-term pressures on labor markets and public finances. The statistics bureau warned, "Italy remains a country where only very positive net migration can offset" demographic decline.
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26 Articles
Italian women make fewer and fewer children, the fertility rate on the peninsula is even becoming one of the lowest in the world, alongside Japan and Poland.
The demographic decline in Italy continues despite the flagrant pro-birth commitment of the Meloni government. And the Istat certifies it. Only the arrival of migrants contrasts the negative effects of the decline of the birth rate. In 2025 the births were 355 thousand, with a decrease of 3.9% compared to 2024. The deaths are 652 thousand, in decrease of 0.2%. While the natural balance (the difference between births and deaths) is largely negati…
In 2025 the births were 355 thousand, with a decrease of 3.9% compared to 2024. The deaths are 652 thousand, in decrease of 0.2%. While the natural balance (the difference between births and deaths)...
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