Demographic sustainability in Italian territories: The link between depopulation and population ageing

Abstract

Since the Second World War, Italy has experienced major demographic changes, including increasing survival, decreasing fertility and higher rates of immigration. These changes have silently and slowly led to important shifts in the structure and the territorial distribution of the population. Thus, like in many other European countries, population ageing and depopulation have become the most relevant demographic phenomena in Italy. In this paper, we studied the relationship between depopulation and ageing in Italian territories in the 1971–2019 period using the census data of the Italian municipalities and applying spatial techniques. We found that high levels of depopulation later result in high levels of population ageing, and that recent population ageing processes are also connected to ongoing depopulation processes, thereby creating a vicious circle.