Single allowance: decrease in beneficiaries but increase in average amount. Inps data
As of March 2026, the number of children reached by the aid has decreased by almost 350,000 compared to the full membership reached two years earlier
Aid for those with children is not stopping the demographic winter. Despite the fact that the government has boosted the measure also in 2026 through the Isee reform, after having already increased it by 50% from 2023 for the first year of infants' lives, apparently the single allowance is not succeeding in reversing the course of the denatality: the number of children eligible for the aid for dependent children between zero and 21 (and without age limits, if disabled) is getting smaller, and more children are growing up and losing their eligibility, compared to newborns. The number of children receiving the single allowance has dropped by 3.6% in the last two years, according to data from the Inps Observatory on Universal Benefit, updated in March.
Entered into force in March 2022 under the Draghi government, as a reorganisation into a single instrument of the various previous contributions and deductions, the universal single allowance is allocated progressively (on the basis of the household's Isee) to all households with children 'in order to favour the birth rate, to supportparenthood and to promote employment, especially among women'. With these words, the enabling act 46/2021 that 'designed' the measure made explicit the objective of countering demographic decline, now called into question by the data on the trend of beneficiaries.
The audience
The first two years were a settling-in period: the single allowance gradually reached most of the families concerned. After applying for each child on the Inps portal (renewal is automatic every year as long as the requirements are met), it is sufficient to update the family's Isee to define the amount due: the household's equivalent economic situation indicator must be obtained by March, otherwise you are only entitled to the minimum amount of the cheque, with the possibility of recovering arrears if it is processed by the end of June.
Thus slowly the number of children benefiting from the one-off allowance rose from 8.4 million in 2022 to a peak of 9.7 million in March 2024, against a potential number of 9.5 million minors and 1.75 million children between 18 and 21. From then on, however, the number of children reached by the allowance started to decrease: in March 2026 there were 348,753 fewer than in the same month of 2024; even if we compare the average number of allowances paid out in the first quarter of 2026 with those paid out in the first quarter of 2024, 254,000 beneficiaries are missing (-2.6%). In practice, the evolution of the number of cheques seems to follow the demographic decline without succeeding in altering it: the trend reflects that of the under-21 population, which fell by 285 thousand between 2024 and 2026 (-2.5%), even more marked among minors (-3.5%).
The slight recovery in youth employment may have contributed to the drop in the number of recipients, with the consequent reduction in the number of Neet adults who remain dependent on their parents: according to the Dedalo observatory (Gi Group Foundation's permanent laboratory on the phenomenon) in the third quarter of 2025 the rate of inactive young people aged 20 to 24 fell from 18.4 per cent to 13.8 per cent.
