Births in decline: from Sardinia to Trentino Alto Adige, here is the ranking by average number of children

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The decline in births continues to be the great unknown for Italy’s future. The data published by Istat last week speaks clearly: last year there were 379 thousand resident births in Italy, with a birth rate of 6.4 per thousand (it was 6.7 per thousand in 2022). The decrease in births compared to 2022 is 14 thousand units (-3.6%). Since 2008, the last year in which there was an increase in births in Italy, the decline has been 197 thousand units (-34.2%).

The reduction in the birth rate applies without distinction to those born with Italian and foreign citizenship. The latter, equal to 13.3% of the total newborns, are 50 thousand, 3 thousand less than in 2022.

The fertility level ranking: from Sardinia to Trentino Alto Adige

If this is the context, thanks to the information provided by the statistics body it is possible to understand how the fertility rate differs at a national level. The Trentino Alto Adige, with an average number of children per woman of 1.42, continues to hold the record for the highest fertility in Italy, although it is among the regions with the greatest negative change compared to 2022 (1.51). They follow Sicily e Campania, with an average number of children per woman of 1.32 and 1.29 respectively (against 1.35 and 1.33 in 2022). In these three regions, new mothers are on average younger than in the rest of the country: the average age at childbirth in Sicily is 31.7 years; 32.2 years in Trentino-Alto Adige and Campania. There Sardinia continues to be the region with the lowest fertility. Stably placed below the level of one child per woman for the fourth consecutive year, in 2023 it stands at 0.91 children (0.95 in 2022). Two other regions of Southern Italy precede it: la Basilicata, where the average number of children per woman drops from 1.10 in 2022 to 1.08 in 2023; The Molise remained stable at 1.10. Sardinia and Basilicata are, together with Laziothe three regions in which the reproductive calendar is most postponed, with average ages at childbirth of 33.2, 33.1 and 33 years respectively.

The differences within individual geographical areas

In the South, regions with higher fertility (Sicily, Campania and Calabria) and regions with minimum levels (Sardinia, Basilicata and Molise) coexist. In the North, three out of four regions in the North-West (Valle d’Aosta, Liguria, Piedmont) show a fertility rate below the national average (1.20 children per woman), while all those in the North-East show one above upstairs. The Center is more cohesive, where only the Marche, with a rate of 1.17 children (the only one to present a minimum advantage compared to the 1.16 of 2022) stands out slightly from Tuscany, Lazio and Umbria (1.12, 1, 11 and 1.10 children respectively).

In the province of Bolzano the highest average number of children per woman (decreasing)

Going into even more detail, at the provincial level, the highest average number of children per woman is recorded in Autonomous Province of Bolzano (1.56), which however presents a significant decrease compared to 2022 (it was 1.64). Followed by the Provinces of Gorizia (1.42), Palermo (1.39), Reggio Calabria (1.37), Ragusa (1.36) and Catania (1.36). All the Sardinian provinces, at the national minimum, have a fertility rate lower than one child per woman: from those of Cagliari and Southern Sardinia (0.86 for both) to those of Oristano (0.93), Sassari (0.95) and Nuoro (0.99). These are followed by the Province of Massa Carrara (1.02), in the Centre, and that of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola (1.06), in the North.