In 2024, Trentino-South Tyrol was the Italian region where both women and men were predicted to live the longest lives in the whole peninsula. In the German-speaking region, the life expectancy at birth of men was almost 83 years, whereas women were expected to live almost 87 years. The second best ranked region was different for males and females. In Veneto, this figure stood at about 82 years for males and in Veneto at 86 years for females. When compared to the country’s average, women in Trentino-South Tyrol were expected to live roughly three years longer. Long life span and low birth rate Around 20 percent of the Italian population in 2023 was above 65 years. Together with a long life expectancy, Italy also has very low birth and fertility rates. In 2024, the country resulted among the 20 states with the lowest fertility rate in the world. One of the longest-living nations From a global perspective, Italy was the ninth country in the world with the highest life expectancy. The inhabitants of Japan and Liechtenstein were expected to live about 84 years, while Italians' life expectancy was of 83 years.

In 2024, Trentino-South Tyrol recorded the highest life expectancy in Italy for both women and men at 65 years old. Veneto followed in the ranking with the second-highest life expectancy at 65 years. In 2020, life expectancy in Italy decreased dramatically due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused the largest number of deaths recorded in decades.

The population of Italy is getting older every year, becoming one of the oldest ones in the world. In 2025, the average age of the Italian population was 46.8 years, 3.4 years more than the average age registered in 2010. However, the age differs significantly depending on the region. According to the most recent data for 2025, the “oldest” citizens of the Italian peninsula live in the region of Liguria, with an average age 49.6 years, whereas the youngest are in Campania, 44.5 years on average. Women live longer than men The difference in the average age of the population can be observed not only on a regional basis, but also between genders. In 2021, Italian women were on average roughly three years older than men. When it comes to the life expectancy, data confirm the longevity of Italian women. In fact, females in Italy are expected to live on average about four years longer than men. The Old Continent In 2024, Europe was the continent with the highest share of population older than 65 years. Whereas the worldwide percentage of the population over 65 years was of ten percent, the percentage of elderly people in the Old Continent reached 20 percent.