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Press release

National demographic balance

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As of December 31, 2015 Italy had 60,665,551 inhabitants, more than 5 million of which have foreign citizenship: 8.3% at national level, 10.6% in Central-northern regions.

For the first time in the last 90 years, during 2015 the number of inhabitants decreased considerably: the overall balance showed an important drop (-130,061 units). The reduction applied only to people with Italian citizenship: -141,777 residents, while the foreign population increased slightly, +11,716.

The natural population change (births minus deaths) was negative for nearly -162 thousand units. As the balance was positive for foreign nationals (almost +66 thousand units), for the Italian ones the decline was even more significant (-227,390 units).

The decrease in the number of births that started in 2008 is still going on. In 2015 children born were less than half a million, just over 72,000 of which are foreign (14.8% of the total). Compared to 2014, there was an overall reduction of 17,000 units (3,000 for the foreigners).

The deaths were over 647,000, almost 50,000 more than in 2014. The increase in 2015 was supported and can be attributed to various factors, both structural and cyclical. The increase was registered especially in the first months of the year and in July, when temperatures were constantly very high in many days.

In 2015 the international migratory movement determined a positive balance of approximately 133,000 units, a lower value compared to previous years.

Registrations from abroad increased slightly: 280,078 (+0.9% over 2014), 90% of which regarded a foreign citizen. On the other hand, cancellations for emigration increased (+7.8%): for Italians (by birth and by naturalization) they exceeded 100,000 units, for foreigners they were almost 45,000.

The attractiveness of the northern and central regions to which most migration flows were addressed (both internal and from foreign countries) was confirmed.

The trend in the number of the acquisition of Italian citizenship was still upward: in 2015 there were 178,000 new Italian citizens.

The different nationalities of foreigners residing in Italy were about 200. Over 50% of foreign residents (more than 2.6 million individuals) were nationals of a European country. The most represented nationality was the Romanian (22.9%), followed by the Albanian (9.3%).

The aging process of the Italian population continued: the mean age reached 44.7 years.

Reference period: Year 2015

Date of Issue: 10 June 2016

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Statistics on demographic structure and dynamics
Angela Silvestrini
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ansilves@istat.it

Mauro Albani
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albani@istat.it

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