In 30 years, the Metropolitan City of Cagliari has lost thousands of young people due to the decline in birth rates, the decline in fertility and depopulation, with "demographic fragility" data among the worst in Italy.
This is underlined by the latest Istat report on “Young people in metropolitan cities: the fragility of educational paths in urban contexts” . The numbers in the dossier reveal how in the last 30 years Italian metropolitan cities have lost a total of one and a half million young people, precisely 24.5% less than in 1993.
As of January 1, 2024, 4.8 million people aged 0-24 reside in the 14 metropolitan cities, over a third of the national total, which is 13.6 million, and represent 22.6% of the total population but also in this case with a significant loss compared to 1993 (-10%) when there was one young person in every 3 people.
In the metropolitan cities of the South and the Islands – writes Istat – there is a strong reduction in the youth component above the national average (-23.9%) which drops to -45.3% in the metropolitan city of Cagliari.
Again: «The contraction of the 0-24 age group, over a thirty-year period, affects the provincial capitals to a greater extent (-27.7%) which end up losing even more young people in the 15-24 age group (-39%)», with the Municipality of Cagliari which «distances itself significantly» by recording as much as -56.2% .
Result: today residents aged between 0 and 24 in the Metropolitan City of Cagliari are “only” 18.9%, therefore approximately 80 thousand out of over 420 thousand inhabitants.
"The decline in the number of young residents aged up to 24 years over the last thirty years is the result of a negative natural dynamic of the native population partially compensated by migratory flows from abroad which have contributed to making the population structure younger, but in the last decade the contribution of migration has not been sufficient to significantly attenuate the decline in the birth rate", underlines Istat.
The numbers on schools and education are also eloquent: the Municipality of Cagliari has the lowest percentage of registered children (9% in nursery schools, 20.9% in primary schools and 14.7% in lower secondary schools), despite standing out for educational services with 26.5% of children taken into care.
Still with regards to education, Cagliari also has the negative Italian record for students repeating in secondary school: 11.5%, almost double the national average (6.6%) .