Italian births dropped to new low of 458,000 in 2017

(ANSA) - Rome, June 13 - The downward trend in Italian births that started in 2008 continued last year, when the number of newborns dropped to 458,151, the lowest level since the unification of Italy, ISTAT said on Wednesday. It was the third consecutive year that Italy has registered less than half a million births, the national statistics agency said.
    The number of births in 2017 was over 15,000 (-3.2%) down on 2016 and almost 120,000 down on nine years ago. ISTAT said 68,000 of the newborns, 14.8% of the total, had foreign parents.