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LAVIANO, Italy, Dec. 3 Christmas this year will be extra special for Antonietta Molinaro. Not only is she about to give birth but she’s also in line for a hefty baby bonus from the local mayor. Perched high in the Apennine hills southeast of Naples, Laviano is edging toward extinction as poor road links and a lack of jobs push the young away in search of a new life. Moreover, Italian women in general are least likely to have babies among European women, a trend that is alarming the government worried about its future pension and healthcare responsibilities.
LAST YEAR THERE were just four new mothers in a population of 1,600. That compares with 70 babies born in 1970, when Laviano had around 3,000 residents.
In a bid to reverse the trend, Mayor Rocco Falivena is digging deep into town coffers and offering couples 10,000 euros ($11,900) for every newborn baby.
"It’s a lot of money, but this is our top priority," said Falivena. "We are talking about the very survival of our town."
Laviano is not alone in its fight for life. Scores of towns the length of southern Italy are dying out.
Between 1991 and 2001 the South had a net migration loss of more than half a million people, while the more prosperous northeast gained some 460,000, according to the latest Demotrends report from Italian demographic research body IRPPS.
But wherever Italians may choose to live, the birth rate across the country is near rock bottom and the traditional stereotype of the Italian mamma and her squadrons of bambini could not be further from the truth.
BIRTH DEARTH
Most Italian women say they want at least two children, but on average have just 1.2, the August trends report said. That’s well below the 1.7 to 1.9 fertility rates of France, Britain and the United States.
Giuseppe Gesano, Demotrends editor, blames inertia within Italian society to adapt to the increasing number of women who study and work.
"The desire for children is still there, but because of practical and economic obstacles couples put it off until either it’s too late or they just have time for one child," he said.
Unlike France and Britain, Italy has so far failed to foster a recovery of its fertility rate. Family allowances are minimal, day care costly and reconciling work and child raising hard to realize.
IRPPS’s Antonio Golini also pointed to the failure of Italian men to take on an equal share of family tasks.
"The most recent surveys have shown the importance of... a widespread counter-culture that considers children to be specifically the private good of women," he wrote.
The end result: Italy has the oldest population in the world, and the government is all too aware of the financial burden that puts on the economy.
Like Falivena, it is planning its own baby bonus aimed at jump-starting the national birth rate.
The 2004 budget package includes a one-off 1,000 euros ($1,200) payment to Italians on the birth of their second child, a measure set to run from Dec. 1 until the end of 2004.
Gesano said quick-fix solutions were not the answer to long-term demographic challenges.
"Italians are not so poor that a one-off payment of 1,000 euros is going to make them have children ... It may convince a few hundred couples to have kids earlier than planned but it’s not going to radically change the birth rate," he said.
Even with a consistent recovery of fertility in the coming years there would inevitably be a serious and growing gap between births and deaths.
ECONOMY FEELS THE STRAIN
The economic ramifications are clear.
Italy’s pension system already swallows some 15 percent of gross domestic product, a figure set to grow with more than 21 percent of Italians aged 65 or over.
The government has laid out pension reform proposals that envisage longer working lives, but it faces stiff opposition from unions which staged a general strike against the measures in October.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says it is time for a change of mentality and for people in their 60s to realize they can’t stay at home and put their feet up, but should continue to work.
By around the middle of this century Italy could reach a ratio of three to four deaths for every birth, the IRPPS estimates. Its data showed the population would have fallen already were it not for a steady influx of immigrants.
In Laviano deaths have outstripped births for three of the last four years.
Stark concrete apartments, built after an earthquake flattened the town in 1980, stand empty. The square is silent bar a group of elderly men chatting quietly.
Falivena hopes his incentive will boost the population by around a quarter to some 2000, and has staggered payments over six years to deter anyone looking to make some quick cash.
Molinaro is there to stay and, with not one but two babies on the way, set to double her money.
"They’re two boys," she said. "A lovely surprise."
LAVIANO, Italy, Dec. 3 Christmas this year will be extra special for Antonietta Molinaro. Not only is she about to give birth but she’s also in line for a hefty baby bonus from the local mayor. Perched high in the Apennine hills southeast of Naples, Laviano is edging toward extinction as poor road links and a lack of jobs push the young away in search of a new life. Moreover, Italian women in general are least likely to have babies among European women, a trend that is alarming the government worried about its future pension and healthcare responsibilities.
LAST YEAR THERE were just four new mothers in a population of 1,600. That compares with 70 babies born in 1970, when Laviano had around 3,000 residents.
In a bid to reverse the trend, Mayor Rocco Falivena is digging deep into town coffers and offering couples 10,000 euros ($11,900) for every newborn baby.
"It’s a lot of money, but this is our top priority," said Falivena. "We are talking about the very survival of our town."
Laviano is not alone in its fight for life. Scores of towns the length of southern Italy are dying out.
Between 1991 and 2001 the South had a net migration loss of more than half a million people, while the more prosperous northeast gained some 460,000, according to the latest Demotrends report from Italian demographic research body IRPPS.
But wherever Italians may choose to live, the birth rate across the country is near rock bottom and the traditional stereotype of the Italian mamma and her squadrons of bambini could not be further from the truth.
BIRTH DEARTH
Most Italian women say they want at least two children, but on average have just 1.2, the August trends report said. That’s well below the 1.7 to 1.9 fertility rates of France, Britain and the United States.
Giuseppe Gesano, Demotrends editor, blames inertia within Italian society to adapt to the increasing number of women who study and work.
"The desire for children is still there, but because of practical and economic obstacles couples put it off until either it’s too late or they just have time for one child," he said.
Unlike France and Britain, Italy has so far failed to foster a recovery of its fertility rate. Family allowances are minimal, day care costly and reconciling work and child raising hard to realize.
IRPPS’s Antonio Golini also pointed to the failure of Italian men to take on an equal share of family tasks.
"The most recent surveys have shown the importance of... a widespread counter-culture that considers children to be specifically the private good of women," he wrote.
The end result: Italy has the oldest population in the world, and the government is all too aware of the financial burden that puts on the economy.
Like Falivena, it is planning its own baby bonus aimed at jump-starting the national birth rate.
The 2004 budget package includes a one-off 1,000 euros ($1,200) payment to Italians on the birth of their second child, a measure set to run from Dec. 1 until the end of 2004.
Gesano said quick-fix solutions were not the answer to long-term demographic challenges.
"Italians are not so poor that a one-off payment of 1,000 euros is going to make them have children ... It may convince a few hundred couples to have kids earlier than planned but it’s not going to radically change the birth rate," he said.
Even with a consistent recovery of fertility in the coming years there would inevitably be a serious and growing gap between births and deaths.
ECONOMY FEELS THE STRAIN
The economic ramifications are clear.
Italy’s pension system already swallows some 15 percent of gross domestic product, a figure set to grow with more than 21 percent of Italians aged 65 or over.
The government has laid out pension reform proposals that envisage longer working lives, but it faces stiff opposition from unions which staged a general strike against the measures in October.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says it is time for a change of mentality and for people in their 60s to realize they can’t stay at home and put their feet up, but should continue to work.
By around the middle of this century Italy could reach a ratio of three to four deaths for every birth, the IRPPS estimates. Its data showed the population would have fallen already were it not for a steady influx of immigrants.
In Laviano deaths have outstripped births for three of the last four years.
Stark concrete apartments, built after an earthquake flattened the town in 1980, stand empty. The square is silent bar a group of elderly men chatting quietly.
Falivena hopes his incentive will boost the population by around a quarter to some 2000, and has staggered payments over six years to deter anyone looking to make some quick cash.
Molinaro is there to stay and, with not one but two babies on the way, set to double her money.
"They’re two boys," she said. "A lovely surprise."
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