Over the past decade, the birth rate in Italy has constantly decreased – in 2024, 6.3 children were estimated to be born per 1,000 inhabitants, three infants less than in 2002. The region with the highest birth rate in the country was Trentino-South Tyrol, where 7.6 children were born per 1,000 residents. Italian mothers are older and older Similar to citizens of other European countries, Italians also postpone parenthood to a later age. While the average age of an Italian mother at childbirth in the 1990s was 29.9 years, in 2024 females giving birth were roughly 32.6 years. Italy, a country with one of the lowest fertility rates in the world If compared with the fertility rates around the world, Italy was one of the 20 countries which registered the lowest fertility rate in 2024. The leader of the global ranking was Taiwan, where only 1.11 babies were born per woman.

In 2024, Trentino-South Tyrol was the region in Italy with the highest birth rate nationwide, with 7.6 births per 1,000 inhabitants. The following three positions in the ranking were occupied by Southern regions: Campania, Sicily, and Calabria. Indeed, south Italy was the macro-region with the largest birth-rate in Italy. Population change in Italy Over the past years, the natural increase in population dropped and the number of deaths exceeded the number of births. This phenomenon can be observed in every region of the country, with the number of births being lower than those of deaths in 2023. Consequently, on a national scale, the share of people aged over 65 years and over grew constantly, whereas the young population declined over the last decade. The median age is increasing as well. High lifespans for Italians Another factor that contributes to making the population older is that people are living longer than ever before. Data about life expectancy reveal that the expected lifespan at birth is rising: in 2023, it stood at 81.1 years for men and 85.2 years for women. In fact, lifespans in Italy are one of the highest worldwide, even above the European average.

In Italy, the crude birth rate in 1850 was 38.4 live births per thousand people, meaning that 3.8 percent of the population had been born in that year. Apart from some slight fluctuation in the 1860s, between 1850 and the Second World War, Italy's crude birth rate decreased very gradually. 38.9 was the highest recorded figure in 1865, and it decreased to 27.1 in 1930. Over the next 35 years (including the Second World War and Italian Civil War) the birth rate fluctuated, but overall it dropped to 18.6, and then the decline fell consistently to 10.9 in 1985, where it then plateaued. In the 2000s, the crude birth rate did increase in the first decade, to 9.7 in 2010, before dropping again, and it is expected to fall to it's lowest level of 7.6 in 2020.

Italy IT: Fertility Rate: Total: Births per Woman data was reported at 1.350 Ratio in 2016. This stayed constant from the previous number of 1.350 Ratio for 2015. Italy IT: Fertility Rate: Total: Births per Woman data is updated yearly, averaging 1.440 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2016, with 57 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 2.650 Ratio in 1964 and a record low of 1.190 Ratio in 1995. Italy IT: Fertility Rate: Total: Births per Woman data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Italy – Table IT.World Bank: Health Statistics. Total fertility rate represents the number of children that would be born to a woman if she were to live to the end of her childbearing years and bear children in accordance with age-specific fertility rates of the specified year.; ; (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision. (2) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (4) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Reprot (various years), (5) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database, and (6) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme.; Weighted average; Relevance to gender indicator: it can indicate the status of women within households and a woman’s decision about the number and spacing of children.

In 2024, the Italian region that registered the highest fertility rate was Trentino-South Tyrol, where the average number of children born per woman reached 1.39 infants. Over the last years, the fertility rate in Italy has constantly decreased, except for 2021, when a slight increase of 0.01 points was recorded. Fewer and fewer children born per womanThe average number of children born per woman significantly varied from the middle of the twentieth century to the present day. In 2017, Italian women were on average a mother of one child, whereas about seven decades earlier, females had on average at least two kids. The lowest fertility rates worldwide From the global perspective, Italy was one of the world's twenty countries with the lowest fertility rate in 2024. This figure in Taiwan reached only 1.11 children per woman, placing the territory on top of the ranking.

Italy IT: Birth Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data was reported at 7.800 Ratio in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 8.000 Ratio for 2015. Italy IT: Birth Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data is updated yearly, averaging 10.000 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2016, with 57 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 19.700 Ratio in 1964 and a record low of 7.800 Ratio in 2016. Italy IT: Birth Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Italy – Table IT.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Crude birth rate indicates the number of live births occurring during the year, per 1,000 population estimated at midyear. Subtracting the crude death rate from the crude birth rate provides the rate of natural increase, which is equal to the rate of population change in the absence of migration.; ; (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision. (2) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (4) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Reprot (various years), (5) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database, and (6) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme.; Weighted average;

Historical dataset showing Italy birth rate by year from 1950 to 2025.

Birth rate, crude (per 1,000 people) in Italy was reported at 6.4 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Italy - Birth rate, crude - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on October of 2025.

Italy: Fertility rate, births per woman: The latest value from 2023 is 1.2 births per woman, a decline from 1.24 births per woman in 2022. In comparison, the world average is 2.41 births per woman, based on data from 196 countries. Historically, the average for Italy from 1960 to 2023 is 1.65 births per woman. The minimum value, 1.19 births per woman, was reached in 1995 while the maximum of 2.66 births per woman was recorded in 1964.

The fertility rate of a country is the average number of children that women from that country will have throughout their reproductive years. From 1850 until 1910, Italy's fertility rate dropped from 5.5 children per woman to 4.4, and over the next fifty years it dropped a lot more sharply, fluctuating along the way. By 1920 it had dropped to 3.3, as a result of the First World War and the economic turmoil that followed. The interwar years saw some fluctuation, but overall the fertility rate dropped to just 2.6 in 1945. In the 75 years that have followed the war, Italy's fertility rate has followed previous trends, where there are some periods of increase, but overall it declined. In the late 1900s Italy had one of the lowest fertility rates in the world, at just 1.2 children per woman in 200, although this has increased slightly in the past two decades, and is expected to be just over 1.3 in 2020.

Actual value and historical data chart for Italy Fertility Rate Total Births Per Woman

In 2024, the birth rate stood at 6.7 births per 1,000 inhabitants in the southern part of the peninsula, the macro-region with the largest rate nationwide. Central regions recorded instead a birth rate of 5.8. The birth rate in the whole country has constantly decreased over the past years – in 2024, 6.3 children were born per 1,000 inhabitants, three infants less than in 2002.

Between 2010 and 2024, the fertility rate in Italy constantly decreased. An Italian woman had 1.44 children in 2010, while in 2020 this figure lowered to 1.24. In 2021, there was a slight increase in fertility rate, with an average of 1.25 babies per woman. In 2024, the figure diminished to 1.18 children per female.

Time series data for the statistic Fertility_Rate and country Italy. Indicator Definition:Total fertility rate represents the number of children that would be born to a woman if she were to live to the end of her childbearing years and bear children in accordance with age-specific fertility rates of the specified year.The statistic "Fertility Rate" stands at 1.20 births per woman as of 12/31/2023, the lowest value since 12/31/1996. Regarding the One-Year-Change of the series, the current value constitutes a decrease of -3.23 percent compared to the value the year prior.The 1 year change in percent is -3.23.The 3 year change in percent is -3.23.The 5 year change in percent is -8.40.The 10 year change in percent is -13.67.The Serie's long term average value is 1.65 births per woman. It's latest available value, on 12/31/2023, is 27.20 percent lower, compared to it's long term average value.The Serie's change in percent from it's minimum value, on 12/31/1995, to it's latest available value, on 12/31/2023, is +0.84%.The Serie's change in percent from it's maximum value, on 12/31/1964, to it's latest available value, on 12/31/2023, is -54.89%.

Historical dataset showing Italy fertility rate by year from 1950 to 2025.

Actual value and historical data chart for Italy Adolescent Fertility Rate Births Per 1 000 Women Ages 15 19

Abstract (en): The ethnographic fieldwork portion of the project - interviews with women of reproductive age, and when available their partners and mothers - was initiated and completed in 2006. For each of four Italian cities (Padua, Bologna, Cagliari, and Naples) studied ethnographically by trained anthropologists, both a working-class and a middle-class neighborhood were identified. These interviews (349 in number) have been transcribed without identifiers. All interviews have been coded and assigned 'attributes' (or nominative variables, such as gender, civil/religious status of marriage, etc.) using the qualitative data analysis software (NVIVO), and these reside in secure electronic project folders. This large body of qualitative interview data is now complete and ready for use across the international collaborative units. Preliminary research reveals the particular significance of family ties in Italy, the fundamental role played by gender systems, and the specific cultural, socio-economic, and politic contexts in which fertility behavior and parenting are embedded. Please see the study website for more information. The surprisingly deep drop in Italian birth rates to among the lowest in the world (total fertility rate of 1.3 or below) has dramatically challenged existing social science theory by appearing to contradict population experts' predictions of where such very low "below replacement" fertility would emerge. This interdisciplinary research project, known as "ELFI" (Explaining Low Fertility in Italy), has made considerable inroads into understanding the puzzle of "lowest-low" Italian fertility, reevaluating theories of reproduction and human behavior more generally. Through the use of innovative methodologies, an international team of collaborators from anthropology, sociology, and demography has produced key findings using both statistical, quantitative methods and extensive ethnographic, qualitative methods. Four Italian cities were studied ethnographically by trained anthropologists. In each, both a working-class and a middle-class neighborhood were identified, and participants were selected. Women of reproductive age in four Italian cities (Padua, Bologna, Cagliari, and Naples). Smallest Geographic Unit: city Anthropologists selected 50 women aged 23-45 in each of four Italian cities. Half of these women were of younger reproductive ages (23-32) and half from older ages (33-45). In addition, in each cohort, half of the women were from a working-class neighborhood and half from a middle-class neighborhood, of varying levels of education and parity. Interviews were also conducted (when possible) with the woman's mother and with the woman's husband or cohabiting partner. The interviewees were selected through personal contacts identified through an indirect snowballing procedure with multiple entries (independently selected initial contacts) in order to avoid a clustered sample. The final sample of interviews consists of 233 women (aged 23-45), 49 mothers, and 67 partners, for a total of 349 interviews. The indirect snowball sampling procedure allowed us to stratify the sample by age, parity, and marital status of the woman in order to maximize variation in socio-demographic characteristics. To facilitate analysis, each of the 349 interviews was recorded, transcribed, and examined using the computer program Nvivo8. Funding insitution(s): United States Department of Health and Human Services. National Institutes of Health. Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01 HD048715). National Science Foundation (BCS 0418443). face-to-face interviewAccording to the principal investigator, direct identifiers have been removed. But the transcripts are in Italian, so we were not able to determine the potential for indirect identifiers. As such, the data is restricted.

This bar chart displays birth rate (per 1,000 people) by date using the aggregation average, weighted by population in Italy. The data is filtered where the date is 2021. The data is about countries per year.

Italy IT: Completeness of Birth Registration: Female data was reported at 100.000 % in 2017. Italy IT: Completeness of Birth Registration: Female data is updated yearly, averaging 100.000 % from Dec 2017 (Median) to 2017, with 1 observations. Italy IT: Completeness of Birth Registration: Female data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Italy – Table IT.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Completeness of birth registration is the percentage of children under age 5 whose births were registered at the time of the survey. The numerator of completeness of birth registration includes children whose birth certificate was seen by the interviewer or whose mother or caretaker says the birth has been registered.; ; UNICEF's State of the World's Children based mostly on household surveys and ministry of health data.; ;

Italy: Deaths of children five to fourteen years of age per 1000 live births: The latest value from 2022 is 0 deaths per 1000 births, unchanged from 0 deaths per 1000 births in 2021. In comparison, the world average is 3 deaths per 1000 births, based on data from 187 countries. Historically, the average for Italy from 1990 to 2022 is 1 deaths per 1000 births. The minimum value, 0 deaths per 1000 births, was reached in 2008 while the maximum of 1 deaths per 1000 births was recorded in 1990.