Birth rate, in Italy the first brake is absent or unstable work. Global alarm on the "epidemic of loneliness"

In Italy it is work - poor, absent or unstable - that is the first factor indicated as a brake on the full realisation of the desire to have children. This is revealed in the Report on the State of the Population in the World 2025, entitled "The Real Fertility Crisis", presented on Tuesday by Unfpa at the Sapienza University of Rome in Italy, together with Aidos. One hundred and sixty pages containing a survey carried out with YouGov by interviewing 14 thousand people in 14 countries (including ours) where 37% of the planet's inhabitants live: ordered from lowest to highest fertility rate, they are South Korea, Thailand, Italy, Hungary, Germany, Sweden, Brazil, Mexico, the United States, India, Indonesia, Morocco, South Africa and Nigeria.

The results - illustrated by Mariarosa Cutillo (Unfpa) and discussed by Elena Ambrosetti (Sapienza), Laura Aghilarre of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Serena Fiorletta (Aidos), together with the Dem senator Sandra Zampa - confirm the worrying percentage of those who fail to realise their fertility intentions. While a high number of unwanted pregnancies persist, there is also a majority of people who wish to have two or more sons and daughters without having any or who would like to have more. Almost a fifth of the over-18s surveyed (18%) believe that they will not be able to have the number of children they would like. If we narrow the circle to the over-50s, as many as 31% report having had fewer children than they would have liked, compared to 12% who say they have had more and 19% who say they are satisfied.

When respondents of all ages were asked about their experiences, almost one in three (32%) said that they had (or their partner had) had an unwanted pregnancy. Almost one in four (23%) experienced a time when they wanted a child, but felt unable to fulfil this desire at the time. Of these, more than 40% said they had to give up altogether. The report calls it 'alarming' that almost 13% of the respondents experienced both an unwanted pregnancy and obstacles to the possibility of having a desired child (and in some countries this percentage exceeds 20%). A sign of the inability of national systems to support the reproductive decision-making process of individuals. In other words, everywhere we look, 'people struggle to realise their reproductive aspirations freely'.

Exploring the reasons behind the failure to fully realise the desire to have children, it emerges that economic issues (finances, housing, work) are a determining factor. On average, only 12% cite infertility, 7% generic fertility barriers or medical treatment and 12% illness. As many as 39%, on the other hand, point to economic difficulties, 19% to housing, 12% to the absence of adequate childcare and 21% to unemployment or job insecurity. One in five also answered that wars, pandemics, political issues and climate change are decisive issues.

Italy's position is striking, where the first cause of lack of satisfaction, present or future, of the desire to have children is indicated in work: 30% of respondents report it. Worse than us are only Thailand and South Africa with 33%. This is followed, with 29%, by income-related constraints, and concerns related to the context, including conflicts, climate and uncertainties in the geopolitical framework. The housing problem is felt less, by 14% of the respondents.