Italy's Population Stabilizes with Immigrant Influx

0:00It's March 31st. From global headlines to breaking updates, this is Global News Today, powered by AI. Italy's population just hit a plateau after 12 straight years of dropping, sitting steady at 58,940,000 as of January 1st. That's according to the National Stats Agency iStat, all thanks to immigrants basically cancelling out the super low birth rates. That's plunged to a record low of 355,000 last year, down almost 4 percent, while deaths stayed around 600, 52,000. That left a natural shortfall of nearly 300,000 people, but net immigration of 296,000 filled the gap, perfectly. Folks are living longer too, with men's life expectancy climbing to 81.7 years and women's to 85.7, making Italy, one of Europe's top spots for longevity. Still, the fertility rate dipped to 1.14 kids per woman, way under the 2.1 needed to replace

1:02the population. This balance happened even under Prime Minister Georgia Maloney's right-wing crew, who've cracked down on undocumented arrivals but ramped up work, visas for non-EU folks, foreign residents now total 5,560,000, up by 188,000. Without steady migrant inflows, Italy's aging crowd would shrink fast, slamming the job market and straining budgets, something policymakers can't, ignore moving forward.