Birth and fertility

Data for 2009 and 2010 provide confirmation that a cyclical downturn in the birth rate is in progress: there were 568,857 births in 2009, and 561,944 in 2010, a fall of around 15,000 in two years.

The slow but steady rise in the birth rate, which began in 1995, the year which saw an all-time low in the number of births (526,064), appears to have been interrupted.

The decline in births can be attributed to the decrease in the number of births to parents who are both Italian (a fall of 25,000 in two years); in contrast, the number of births to parents of whom at least one is foreign continues to rise, albeit at a slower pace: on average 5,000 more births in 2009 and 2010, half the increase recorded in 2008.