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Declining Birth Rates of Italy by Desri Dillinaco http://www.fgritaly.com Italy, as we all know, is the world center of the Catholic Church. Strangely, in spite of its deep-rooted Catholic culture and tradition, it has today changed into a nation having the second lowest birth rates in Europe, next only to Spain. At 1.2 per woman that means one child per woman, according to Global Agenda Magazine. 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 Italy's birth rate with Sweden's 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. To counter this development, the Italian government has decided to adopt a strategy of offering 1,000 euros to every woman who gives birth to a second child since 2003. 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. They believe that in the past, having children was a way of investing in one's old age security. This meant that if one had more children he had more hands to help with farming and the family business as well as more people to take care of him in his old age. With the introduction of pension systems where you pay for your own future security, the older people have become less dependent on their children for their financial needs and this has had a major impact on birth rates. Others have noted that the requirement of paying higher taxes to support social programs such as pensions also decrease present-day wherewithal to have more children, simply because families have less take-home pay. These days most women are working full time. Many countries do not offer child care facilities like what is offered in a country like Norway. Norway takes care of this aspect and also permits flexible working hours along with maternity leave, unlike Italy. This is also considered as a reason for declining birth rates. It is important to seriously start thinking as to how the people of today in Italy will be supported when they grow old. Nevertheless this problem of low birth rate is definitely better than the problem that comes with very high population growth. |