Italy: A land of low Birth Rate
by Desri Dillinaco
http://www.fgritaly.com
It has been reported by Global Agenda Magazine that Italy
has the second lowest birth rate in Europe and the West.
They are second only to Spain. Though Italy has an age
old tradition of Catholics and is the center of Catholic
Church, it is odd to note that the birth rate is only one
single child per female.
Starting in 2003, the Italian government offered 1,000
euros to every women giving birth to a second child as a
way to counter the trend. A Sunday Telegraph article in
April 2004 compared Italys birth rate with Swedens which
is 50 percent higher.
Culturally this trend may appear strange in a previously
Catholic country (its official status as a Roman Catholic
state was removed in 1985) where family has been a central
unit in society and Catholic culture.
In contrast to the situation in Italy, some other
catholic countries in Europe such as France and Ireland
have a high rate of child birth. The reason for this may
be attributed to the fact that the government is more
lavish in funding health and child care. They are also
offering better incentives to families with more than one
child.
It is a cause of concern that this trend will result in
having a large number of people who are old and there are
only a few people contributing gainfully to the society.
This situation is likely in countries like Russia, Japan,
Italy and other eastern European countries. This
phenomenon of low birth rates is being studied by people
who study social and public policy in Europe.
Some believe these pay-as-you-go pension systems actually
have a direct impact on birth rates, making the older
population less dependent on their children for day to day
needs. In other words, children in the past were a kind of
investment in ones future security. The more children one
had, the greater chance of being cared for in old age and
the more hands to help on the farm or with the family
business.
They also feel that since people have to pay higher taxes
to support these kinds of social programmes, they have
lower disposable incomes and less money to meet the
expenses of bringing up more children.
Another cause for the declining birth rate is the fact
that more women are working full-time during their
childbearing years. Child-care programmes of different
countries vary. For example, Norway has better financial
and infrastructure facilities as compared to Italy.
Norwegian day-care centers are government funded and
mothers have the option to work part-time, without
affecting their position at work. They also get longer
maternity leave.
Thus, Italys declining birth rate is definitely a
problem that needs to be looked into, keeping in mind the
fact that todays youth will need to be supported in
their old age. However, there is no denying that this
issue is far less serious than the opposite scenario of
galloping population growth in developing countries.
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