The number of deaths exceeded
births in southern Italy in 2013, raising the spectre of a
"demographic upheaval" with "unforeseeable consequences", the
Association for the Industrial Development of Southern Italy
(SVIMEZ) said in a report published Tuesday.
Deaths had outstripped births in the region on only two
previous occasions, after the third Italian War of Independence
in 1867 and after the First World War in 1918, SVIMEZ said.
In absolute terms 177,000 babies were born in southern
Italy in 2013, the lowest number since the proclamation of the
Kingdom of Italy in 1861.
According to SVIMEZ estimates, southern Italy is set to
lose 4.2 million inhabitants over the next 50 years.
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