Italy faces existential threat over low birthrate - president

[webfact]

Italy faces existential threat over low birthrate - president

 

FILE PHOTO: Elderly people play cards in Rome, Italy October 8, 2018. Picture taken October 8, 2018. REUTERS/Tony Gentile

 

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's future is threatened by its diminishing birthrate, President Sergio Mattarella said on Tuesday, as new data showed the population had shrunk once again in 2019.

 

Italy's growing demographic crisis, with births falling and life expectancy rising, is one reason for its chronically stagnant economy, and the situation is getting worse.

 

National statistics agency ISTAT said there were 435,000 births last year, down 5,000 on 2018 and the lowest level ever recorded in Italy. Deaths totalled 647,000 in 2019, some 14,000 more than the year earlier.

 

"This is a problem that concerns the very existence of our country," Mattarella said shortly after the data was released. "The fabric of our country is weakening and everything must be done to counter this phenomenon."

 

"As an old person I am well aware of the falling birth rate," added Mattarella, who is 78.

 

Italy's overall population fell by 116,000 to 60.3 million, with a steady rise in migrant and immigrant births helping to offset the declining domestic birth rate.

 

Many other European countries are suffering similar challenges, especially in ex-communist eastern Europe, while Germany has also seen a decline in domestic births partly offset by increased migrant and immigrant births.

 

Birth rates have held up better in France and Britain.

 

Italy's population had risen virtually every year since World War One, hitting a peak in 2015 at 60.8 million, but has since started to decline.

 

ISTAT said the gap between births and deaths was getting wider, with just 67 newborns last year for every 100 people who died. Ten years ago there were 96 births for every 100 deaths.

 

Life expectancy in Italy has continued to push up, hitting 85.3 years for women and 81 years for men -- one of the highest rates in Europe -- while the average age in Italy is now 45.7.

 

Successive Italian governments have promised to do more to boost births, but have so far failed to resolve the problem.

 

The current administration has offered lower income couples grants of up to 160 euros ($175) per month to help cover costs during the first year of a baby's life and also promised young families up to 3,000 euros a year to cover nursery charges.

 

(Reporting by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Gareth Jones)

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-02-12

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[bkk6060]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Many other European countries are suffering similar challenges

My take on this is the attitudes of women.

They use sex more and more as a tool in western countries.

It is disgusting to me the manipulation.

Without sex there will be no babies.  So, there you go.

[Jack Mountain]

If you love your children you not let them born ...

[30la]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

"As an old person I am well aware of the falling birth rate," added Mattarella, who is 78.

Stop old imbecile, to encourage people to make children who will never have a future in a country where anarchy reigns and where corruption is at the top of your mind and your political counterparts!

[Puchaiyank]

Arguably one of the most disturbing and depressing threads in a long time...????

[DrTuner]

World is overpopulated so not a bad thing.

[Chomper Higgot]

4 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

My take on this is the attitudes of women.

They use sex more and more as a tool in western countries.

It is disgusting to me the manipulation.

Without sex there will be no babies.  So, there you go.

I don’t think this is the right place for you to discuss your problems with women.

[holy cow cm]

I wouldn't mind trying to impregnate a few hottie Italian beauties. 

[Farangwithaplan]

4 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

Without sex there will be no babies.  So, there you go.

Never heard if IVF? Look it up. With IVF a man of your high caliber will never need to lower yourself to need to have your quality - and surely outstanding - sexual appendage touching one of those despicable women again - if ever.

[Farangwithaplan]

5 minutes ago, holy cow cm said:

I wouldn't mind trying to impregnate a few hottie Italian beauties. 

The nation needs you. You are a selfless man. We can tell. ????

[Matzzon]

3 hours ago, Puchaiyank said:

Arguably one of the most disturbing and depressing threads in a long time...????

I´ll make it more fun. ???? 

I can volunteer to go there and spread my seed. I´ve seen that there are actually quite a lot of hot italian women. Anybody feel like joining?

[Nyezhov]

4 minutes ago, Matzzon said:

I´ll make it more fun. ???? 

I can volunteer to go there and spread my seed. I´ve seen that there are actually quite a lot of hot italian women. Anybody feel like joining?

Im in. I had several Italian girlfriends back in NYC.. Passionate and their moms could cook

[Rimmer]

Off topic troll post removed

[DrTuner]

4 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

Im in. I had several Italian girlfriends back in NYC.. Passionate and their moms could cook

The cooking is a plus but they are unstable nutters. Fun in the sack but exhausting otherwise. Been there, done that, somehow survived.

[BritManToo]

18 minutes ago, Farangwithaplan said:

Never heard if IVF? Look it up. With IVF a man of your high caliber will never need to lower yourself to need to have your quality - and surely outstanding - sexual appendage touching one of those despicable women again - if ever.

40% of potential US citizens get aborted.

Italy is probably a bit lower, but the problem appears to be many western women just don't want to have babies.

Western civilisation and equality gives them choices, and their choice is often not to breed with us.

Maybe the Pope was right about abortion and contraception?

 

All this 'off topic' talk of food has given me the urge to make pizza for lunch.

Edited February 12, 2020 by BritManToo

[Nyezhov]

3 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

The cooking is a plus but they are unstable nutters. Fun in the sack but exhausting otherwise. Been there, done that, somehow survived.

The Italian girls were OK, it was the Scicilian girls who were crazy. One of my High School girlfriends had to sneak out of her house, not becasue she wasnt allowed to date, but because they never opened the front door elst they would have been deemed to accept the grand jury subpoenaes plastered on their. her daddy was a made Gambino under the Chin. I was a bit crazy myself I guess.

[holy cow cm]

20 minutes ago, Farangwithaplan said:

The nation needs you. You are a selfless man. We can tell. ????

Yes that is correct. I will bite the bullet on this one and take one or two for the team..

[Matzzon]

21 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

Im in. I had several Italian girlfriends back in NYC.. Passionate and their moms could cook

Yeah, the genuine food is lovely. 

[Nyezhov]

1 minute ago, Matzzon said:

Yeah, the genuine food is lovely. 

Best was when they had the Granny. Fat ones in black dresses. Mangiare.

 

One of my fondest memories of life in the 60s and 70s is the extreme volume of great ethnic food ya found down in the NYC area from all the refugees and war brides and suchlike. And when you were a kid, you finished what you were served, as wierd as it was. Like the kid I grew up with whose Mom was from BudaPest would be yelling at us to eat the Mamaliga, "the mamaliga is untouched! We starve in the war! Children starve in camps! You must eat! Maybe the Germans come again!" OK lady, its tasty but wierd nomnomnom. But hey, St. Josephs Table is tomorrow and old man Abruzzo is grilling homemade sausages.

 

 

[Thomas J]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

Italy's future is threatened by its diminishing birthrate

It is not just Italy.  All of the Western nations and even Japan and China face declining birth rates.  There is a correlation between education, income and lower birth rates.  It is quite ironic that the wealthy nations are working their asses off and having fewer children and then supporting immigration from uneducated illiterates from third world countries and in effect paying those indigents enough money to raise the immigrant children.  

 

[Jare]

6 hours ago, jastheace said:

there are boat loads of ' sub-saharan' economic migrants trying to get in to Italy. just let them in and get Italy as europes Nigeria. fantastic. problem solved. well, not solved, but new problems introduced. booking my amaldi coast holiday now before u know what happens...

sh! t fan 

 

If you are a neutral capitalist with no interest in human notions of identity, it makes obvious sense to replace the elderly expensive population of Europe with the youthful and cheap population of Africa. If computers governed the world, they would perhaps see human attachment to identity as inefficient. Perhaps people are retiring too early, or need cybernetic implants to keep them working longer and reduce retirement costs? /sarc

 

It is not clear why journalists report population decline as a negative thing, when at the same time, reporting environmental decline due to population increase as a bad thing.

These two issues seem mutually exclusive. Why not aim for an optimum population?

Do they report population growth in China and India with the same enthusiasm?

Edited February 12, 2020 by Jare

[justin case]

less people is a good thing, not a bad thing !!!!

 

or they will open the floodgates to illegals again with no education and opposite religion

[katana]

Sometimes it's claimed the immigrants are needed due to Europe's low birthrate and it's justified in this way.
However countries could just increase child benefit payments which was done previously. There is a long history of using the tax and welfare system to modify social behaviour eg after World War I, many countries were left with dwindling populations. In an attempt to solve this problem, Sweden began a program called "family allowance". These were government funds given to families with children to encourage them to bear more children and increase the birthrate.
In the UK after World War II, bringing up several children was encouraged to restore the birth rate: in 1945, Family Allowance was introduced in the UK to provide benefit for second and subsequent children.

[thaibeachlovers]

19 hours ago, BritManToo said:

the problem appears to be many western women just don't want to have babies.

If men had to go through morning sickness, 9 months of carrying a foetus that will give them stretch marks, cause incredible pain during birth and could kill them if something goes wrong, there would probably be zero births.

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If men had to go through morning sickness, 9 months of carrying a foetus that will give them stretch marks, cause incredible pain during birth and could kill them if something goes wrong, there would probably be zero births.

You forgot, after the nine months of work you get paid for the rest of your life and a free house.

I'd take that deal in a goddamned second. 

 

Not sure the 'incredible pain' is actually real, my Thai one popped em out without any apparent effort.

[thaibeachlovers]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

You forgot, after the nine months of work you get paid for the rest of your life and a free house.

I'd take that deal in a goddamned second. 

 

Not sure the 'incredible pain' is actually real, my Thai one popped em out without any apparent effort.

I had to work in maternity as part of my training and the pain is real. There is no way I'd ever voluntarily subject myself to the trials of pregnancy and birth. Seems more and more women also feel that way.

[NotYourBusiness]

3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If men had to go through morning sickness, 9 months of carrying a foetus that will give them stretch marks, cause incredible pain during birth and could kill them if something goes wrong, there would probably be zero births.

That is ridiculous. Children are socialized from birth to expect certain things in life. Lately our girls are being socialized to not have babies. Birth control, abortion, and the courts have given them the tools. Western civilization is doomed.

 

Humans will do whatever we are socialized to do. I don't see any girls going through this:

 

[thaibeachlovers]

On 2/13/2020 at 3:56 PM, NotYourBusiness said:

Western civilization is doomed.

The "civilization" that gave us concentration camps and industrial genocide, nuclear weapons, exploitation of poor countries, suppression of other cultures and the pollution of the entire planet. Is it worth saving?

[NotYourBusiness]

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

The "civilization" that gave us concentration camps and industrial genocide, nuclear weapons, exploitation of poor countries, suppression of other cultures and the pollution of the entire planet. Is it worth saving?

Thank you, I will take that as agreement on the other point about men having babies (because you didn't bother to address it). Glad that is settled.

[sirineou]

On 2/11/2020 at 11:29 PM, Jare said:

If you are a neutral capitalist with no interest in human notions of identity, it makes obvious sense to replace the elderly expensive population of Europe with the youthful and cheap population of Africa. If computers governed the world, they would perhaps see human attachment to identity as inefficient. Perhaps people are retiring too early, or need cybernetic implants to keep them working longer and reduce retirement costs? /sarc

 

It is not clear why journalists report population decline as a negative thing, when at the same time, reporting environmental decline due to population increase as a bad thing.

These two issues seem mutually exclusive. Why not aim for an optimum population?

Do they report population growth in China and India with the same enthusiasm?

The op does not report population decline as a negative thing, it reports population decline as a negative thing for Italy. A big difference there.