Italy’s shortage of babies shows that legalising abortion was a disastrous move
The Italian Minister of Health has said Italy is a dying country due to a shortage of babies
The Italian Minister of Health, Beatrice Lorenzin, has sounded the alarm about something that we have known about for a long time. Italy’s population is declining. The latest statistics show the lowest recorded number of births per thousand since Italian unification, and the number dying each year is greater than the number being born. Could this be some sort of tipping point? The Minister thinks so, saying that Italy is now a “dying country”. Moreover, she says: “This situation has enormous implications for every sector: the economy, society, health, pensions, just to give a few examples.” Few could quarrel with that.
We have often been told in the past that the pressing problem we face is overpopulation. But here is someone who one imagines we can trust – a government minister, an elected representative of the people – telling us that population decline is the problem.
Why is Italy’s population declining? The Telegraph article linked to above points out that the depressed south of Italy has the lowest birth-rate, and therefore that economic stagnation is the cause. This must have some truth in it, but it was the case that in the south of Italy has never been booming in the last century or so, but was at least fecund. My guess is that there’s more to it than economics alone. The falling birth rate reflects a lack of confidence, but not just in the economy; a depression that goes beyond facts and figures: a depression of the collective soul.
The Italian Minister of Health, Beatrice Lorenzin, has sounded the alarm about something that we have known about for a long time. Italy’s population is declining. The latest statistics show the lowest recorded number of births per thousand since Italian unification, and the number dying each year is greater than the number being born. Could this be some sort of tipping point? The Minister thinks so, saying that Italy is now a “dying country”. Moreover, she says: “This situation has enormous implications for every sector: the economy, society, health, pensions, just to give a few examples.” Few could quarrel with that.
We have often been told in the past that the pressing problem we face is overpopulation. But here is someone who one imagines we can trust – a government minister, an elected representative of the people – telling us that population decline is the problem.
Why is Italy’s population declining? The Telegraph article linked to above points out that the depressed south of Italy has the lowest birth-rate, and therefore that economic stagnation is the cause. This must have some truth in it, but it was the case that in the south of Italy has never been booming in the last century or so, but was at least fecund. My guess is that there’s more to it than economics alone. The falling birth rate reflects a lack of confidence, but not just in the economy; a depression that goes beyond facts and figures: a depression of the collective soul.
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