Few children, many elderly people: Sardinia is aging (and continues to depopulate)
The Island – which lost over 8 thousand residents in 2024 – has the highest average age in Italy after Liguria (49.2 years) and is confirmed as the region with the lowest fertility rate in the country.
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Sardinia continues to lose population and age, and remains at the bottom of the list in terms of birth rates . This is confirmed once again by ISTAT (Italian National Institute of Statistics) in its latest "Census and Population Dynamics."
RESIDENTS IN DECREASE – The report first highlights the population loss: between 2023 and 2024, the island's population decreased from 1,570,453 to 1,562,381, a decrease of 8,072. Foreign residents, however, increased by 2,050.
OLD ISLAND – The Census also confirms the progressive aging of the population (actually common throughout Italy): with a median age of 49.2 years, Sardinia is the oldest region in Italy after Liguria (49.6 years). The national average is 46.9 years.
LOW BIRTH – The negative trend in birth rates is confirmed: Sardinia remains the region with the lowest rate, with 0.91 children per woman (the province of Bolzano leads with 1.51), and an aging index (which measures the number of people aged 65 and over for every 100 young people aged 0-14) of 283% (the highest in the country, where the average is 208%).
Not only that: Sardinia – along with Lazio and Basilicata – is also the region where women give birth the latest: on average at 33.2 years, compared to the national figure of 32.6 years.
ITALY – Looking at the country as a whole, as of December 31, 2024, the population usually residing in Italy numbered 58,943,464. Compared to the same date in 2023, there was a slight decrease of 27,766, equal to -0.5 per thousand. The nationwide population decline reflects uneven regional dynamics, with steeper relative decreases in the South (-2.5 per thousand) and the Islands (-2.8 per thousand) and a more moderate decrease in the Center (-1.0 per thousand). Conversely, increases were observed in the Northwest and Northeast (+1.4 and +1.2 per thousand, respectively).
MEN AND WOMEN – Women, "outnumbering men by 1,200,030, represent 51.0% of the resident population," ISTAT further emphasizes, explaining: "The male ratio is 96 men for every 100 women. Due to women's greater longevity, the proportion of women increases progressively with age. Up to the 40-44 age group, there is a male predominance, due both to the biological ratio at birth consistently favoring men (105-106 males for every 100 females) and to the marked male prevalence of immigrants from abroad in their youth and adulthood. From the 45-49 age group, women predominate, with a constantly increasing share that grows at older ages, representing 64.6% of the very elderly (85 years and over) and 82.4% of centenarians."
