Italian Food Union: the challenge of the falling birth rate is changing consumption patterns and employment relationships
Less focus on volume and more on innovation in ready meals and functional foods. Paolo Barilla: “The demographic transition calls for a partnership between businesses and institutions”
Key points
An ageing population and low birth rates: the issue of demographic change has long been on the political and economic agenda and is linked above all to the key issues of pensions and healthcare. However, falling birth rates and rising life expectancy also have a profound impact on the national economy in terms of the availability of labour and changing consumption patterns.
These are issues that closely affect the food industry, which is seeing a decline in domestic sales volumes (it is not, therefore, merely a question of falling purchasing power) and a shift in both demand and the profile of those who spend the most in supermarkets.
Unionfood General Assembly and the demographic challenge
For these reasons, Unione Italiana Food – which represents 530 companies that generated a turnover of 62 billion euros in 2025 (equivalent to 30% of the processed food sector), up 6.9% on 2024, partly thanks to a 9.2% rise in exports – decided at its General Assembly held in Milan to focus its attention on these issues with the meeting ‘Rebirth in Italia: solutions today for tomorrow’s society and consumption’. According to data presented by the association, since 2008 Italia has seen a 35.8% decline in births; if this trend continues, by 2050 one in three Italians will be over 65, whilst 40% of households will consist of a single person. For the food industry, these figures represent “a future consumption scenario and a production emergency that are already a reality”.
‘A pact for a new welfare system’
From an employment perspective, Unionfood highlights “the difficulty in recruiting skilled workers”, which “exceeds 50 per cent in various parts of the country”. The brain drain is “further exacerbating the situation”. According to a survey carried out among its members, it appears that companies are making significant efforts to combat this trend through ‘enhanced parental leave covering up to 100 per cent of pay, structured programmes to support a return to work after maternity leave, remote working and corporate welfare schemes’. However, these efforts risk being in vain without a broader strategy.
“The food industry has always been able to interpret changes in society and turn them into concrete solutions,” says Unionfood President Paolo Barilla. “We have done so in response to changing consumer habits, the growth in exports and product innovation. Today we face a challenge that is different in scale and urgency: the demographic transition requires a pact between businesses and institutions, to work together to build a stable system of incentives so that parenthood becomes economically sustainable for families and competitively neutral for businesses.”
