Italy’s extremely low fertility rate now means it has the lowest percentage of young people aged 18-34 in Europe.

A new survey from the national statistics agency, Istat, has found that numbers in that age group have dropped by three million, or 23 per cent, since 2002 to 10.2 million last year.

It catches Italy in a downward spiral because the fewer young people there are, the fewer there will be to have children even if they increase the number of babies each of them has.

Italy’s problem is replicated across Europe to varying degrees because fertility rates are below the replacement level of 2.1 in in every country, including Ireland.

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