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☆ Italy makes it illegal to seek surrogacy abroad
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-16 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

ROME — Italy’s parliament made it illegal on Wednesday for couples to go abroad to have a baby via surrogacy — a project of Prime Minister’s Giorgia Meloni party which activists say is meant to target same-sex partners. The upper house Senate voted into law a bill proposed by Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party by 84 votes to 58. “Motherhood is absolutely unique, it absolutely cannot be surrogated, and it is the foundation of our civilization,” Brothers of Italy senator Lavinia Mennuni said during the parliamentary debate. “We want to uproot the phenomenon of surrogacy tourism.”Earlier this year, Meloni called surrogacy an "inhuman" practice that treated children as supermarket products, echoing a position expressed by the Catholic Church. Here instead you are sent to jail... if you don’t have children in the traditional way,” Franco Grillini, a long-time activist for LGBTQ rights in Italy, told Reuters at the demonstration.

Persons: ROME —, Minister’s Giorgia, Meloni, Meloni’s Brothers, ”, Lavinia Mennuni, ” Franco Grillini, Alessia Crocini Organizations: Catholic Church, Reuters, Rainbow Locations: Italy, United States, Canada

☆ Italy makes it illegal for couples to have a baby by surrogacy overseas
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-16 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Rome Reuters —Italy’s parliament made it illegal on Wednesday for couples to go abroad to have a baby via surrogacy — a pet project of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s party which activists say is meant to target same-sex partners. Since taking office in 2022, Meloni has pursued a highly conservative social agenda, looking to promote what she sees as traditional family values, making it progressively harder for LGBTQ couples to become legal parents. The upper house Senate voted into law a bill proposed by Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party by 84 votes to 58. “We want to uproot the phenomenon of surrogacy tourism.”Earlier this year, Meloni called surrogacy an ‘inhuman’ practice that treated children as supermarket products, echoing a position expressed by the Catholic Church. Rainbow Families President Alessia Crocini said 90% of Italians who choose surrogacy are heterosexual couples but they mostly do so in secret, meaning the new ban would de facto affect only gay couples who cannot hide it.

Persons: Rome, Giorgia, Meloni, Meloni’s Brothers, ”, Lavinia Mennuni, ” Franco Grillini, Alessia Crocini Organizations: Rome Reuters —, Catholic Church, Reuters, Rainbow Locations: Italy, United States, Canada

☆ Fact Check: Claim that Italy had no new births for three months in 2023 is false
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-24 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Social media posts claimed without evidence that Italy has registered no new births for three months, contrary to reports by the national statistics bureau and local media. The Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) told Reuters that the three most recent months of data available showed an average of more than 30,000 births per month in Italy, and that preliminary numbers for subsequent months were in the same range. No Child Births in 3 Months.”However, the data published by ISTAT shows 31,105 births in June, 33,753 in July and 33,093 in August 2023. While Italy's overall population has been falling since 2014, the country registered new births in September, October and November 2023, according to local news reports. Published and preliminary data from the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) shows that Italy has registered thousands of new births in every month of 2023.

Persons: Read Organizations: Italian National Institute of Statistics, Reuters, ISTAT, Thomson Locations: Italy

☆ Births in Italy heading for new record low in 2023 - stats office
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Rome, Italy, November 14, 2022. REUTERS/Remo Casilli/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsROME, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Births in Italy are heading for a new record low this year, according to preliminary data that points to a deepening of the country's long-standing demographic crisis. Between January and June there were 3,500 fewer births than in the same period of 2022, the data from national statistics bureau ISTAT showed. In 2022 as a whole, births fell 1.7% to 393,000, a 14th consecutive drop and the lowest number since the country's unification in 1861. The rate is bolstered by immigrants, while among women of Italian nationality it stood at just 1.18 in 2022.

Persons: Leonardo, Viviana Valente, Remo Casilli, Giorgia, women's, Antonella Cinelli, Gavin Jones, John Stonestreet Organizations: Santo Spirito Hospital, UN, REUTERS, Rights, for Economic Cooperation, Development, ISTAT, Thomson Locations: Rome, Italy

Research shows women in richer economies are more likely to have children if they work. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni - Italy's first female premier - has said women are "an untapped resource" that lessens the need for immigrant labour. Yet her conservative government's 2024 budget, to be presented on Monday, is not expected to include measures to drive change. According to a government report relating to 2021, nearly one in five Italian women aged under 50 left their job after having their first child. SPANISH SUCCESSMeloni's government could learn from Spain, whose female activity rate lagged Italy's in the early 1990s but is now above the EU average.

Persons: Guzzo, Vittoria, Claudia Greco, Elena, Claudia Goldin, Giorgia Meloni, Claudia Olivetti, Enza Guzzo, Gian Carlo Blangiardo, Blangiardo, Giancarlo Giorgetti, Olivetti, Paola Profeta, Katharine Neiss, Valentina Za, Elisa Anzolin, Giuseppe Fonte, Catherine Evans Organizations: REUTERS, European Union, Reuters, Research, Dartmouth College, ISTAT, Bank of, EU, France's, Milan's Bocconi University, AXA Research, Treasury, Thomson Locations: Arese, Italy, MILAN, Bank of Italy, Rome, Barcelona, Spain, Milan

☆ Southern Italians stick with student life as jobs hard to find
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Oct 12 (Reuters) - Southern Italians are studying more and for longer as a shortage of jobs forces many to either stay in school or relocate, a report by national statistics bureau ISTAT showed on Thursday. "The lack of stable and good quality job opportunities in the Mezzogiorno is nothing new, but the situation among "millennials" is getting worse", ISTAT said. "The current youth of the Mezzogiorno face a longer and more complicated journey towards adulthood," it added. "It is a paradox, but in the medium-long term, this could fuel a further deprivation of human capital with advanced skills, which is indispensable for the Mezzogiorno", ISTAT said. Southern youths are dissatisfied with their economic situation and almost three quarters of them still live with their parents.

Persons: Alessandro Parodi, Keith Weir Organizations: ISTAT, Thomson Locations: Southern, Sicily, Sardinia, Italy

☆ Italy sees 2023 budget deficit overshoot at around 5.5% of GDP, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( Giuseppe Fonte | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reacts at a news conference for her government's first budget in Rome, Italy November 22, 2022. REUTERS/Remo Casilli/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsROME, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Italy sees its 2023 budget deficit overshooting at around 5.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) from the current 4.5% target, sources told Reuters, pushed up by high interest rates and accounting adjustments regarding costly tax credits. The 3.7% target currently established for next year's fiscal gap is also set to be revised upwards, two sources close to the matter said. However, national statistics bureau ISTAT said any revisions to GDP data for the first and second quarter of this year are likely to be no more than marginal. Italy will unveil its new economic projections next week in the Treasury's annual Economic and Financial Document (DEF).

Persons: Giorgia Meloni, Remo Casilli, Giorgia, Gavin Jones, Toby Chopra Organizations: Italian, REUTERS, Rights, Reuters, Eurostat, Treasury, ISTAT, Thomson Locations: Rome, Italy

Gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 0.3% on a quarterly basis between April and June and was up 0.6% year-on-year, national statistics bureau ISTAT said. ISTAT gave no numerical sector breakdown of its preliminary second-quarter GDP estimate, but said industry and agriculture output decreased whereas services grew marginally. The 0.3% contraction left Italy with so-called "carryover" growth of 0.8% this year, assuming GDP would be flat in the remaining two quarters. "Italy is an advanced industrial country and the weakness in industry is much more important than the tourism sector for the economy's health," said Lorenzo Codogno, head of LC Macro Advisors and former chief economist at Italy's Treasury. ISTAT also said annual inflation slowed to 6.4% in July from 6.7% in June, on a EU-harmonised consumer prices.

Persons: Giorgia Meloni, Franziska Palmas, Intesa, Lorenzo Codogno, Alvise Armellini, Elvira Pollina, Sharon Singleton, Alistair Bell Organizations: Gross, Reuters, Capital Economics, ISTAT, LC Macro Advisors, Italy's Treasury, Thomson Locations: ROME, Italy, Rome, Milan

☆ Italian book-reading hit 22-year low in 2022, after COVID pick up
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Alessandro Parodi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 18 (Reuters) - Less than 40% of Italians read a book for pleasure last year, data showed on Thursday, the lowest figure for 22 years, but children were more avid readers than their parents. National statistics bureau ISTAT reported that 39.3% of people above the age of five read at least one book in 2022 for a reason other than study or work. Reading picked up marginally during the COVID-19 pandemic, which interrupted a downtrend that began in 2010, ISTAT said. Only 17.4% of people had read as many as three books in the 12 months prior to the survey, it said. Overall, female readership is 10 points higher than for males, ISTAT said, continuing a trend which began in 1988.

☆ Italy's birth rate is at a record low. Young Italians say they can't afford to have babies
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau Valentina Di Donato Antonia Mortensen | Barbie Latza Nadeau | Valentina Di Donato | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The birth rate in Italy has been declining steadily since the economic crisis in 2008, for reasons demographers agree is rooted in economic insecurity. In France, the birth rate is higher at 1.8 children per woman, according to figures for 2022 from its national statistics agency. The Catholic Church, which is a predominant political force, and the right-wing government under Meloni have both lamented the low birth rate, but have put up roadblocks to ways to remedy the situation. De Luca blames the government for not doing enough for the younger generation, in part because decades of low birth rates have made the youth a minority. Testa fears that the low birth rate is contagious.

☆ Italy's government calls crisis meeting over surging pasta prices
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MILAN, May 4 (Reuters) - Italy's Industry Minister Adolfo Urso called on Thursday for a crisis meeting over prices for pasta, the country's favourite staple, after they jumped by more than double the national inflation rate. Urso's ministry said the cost of spaghetti and other pasta products rose year-on-year by 17.5% in March despite a drop in wheat prices. In that month, Italian EU-harmonised consumer prices (HICP) rose overall by 8.1%. Italian inflation rose by even more in April to 8.8% year-on-year, driven by a fresh spike in energy prices, national statistics agency ISTAT said on Tuesday. 'Core' inflation, net of fresh food and energy, was stable at 6.8% year-on-year.

☆ Italy pushes to limit executive pay in listed state-run firms
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Giuseppe Fonte | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Top managers' multi-million euro salaries and handsome bonuses have come into focus at a time when Italian families are struggling with an inflation rate that neared 9% in April, well above the euro zone average. According to the government draft, the Treasury will work to "contain management costs" when shareholders vote on remuneration policies at state-controlled listed companies. Monte dei Paschi already applies curbs to executives' pay as a bank that was bailed out by the state in 2017. Under terms agreed with European Union authorities, the total remuneration of any MPS executive may not exceed 10 times the average salary of its employees in 2022. Additional reporting by Gavin Jones; Editing by Gavin Jones and Christina FincherOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Italy calls crisis meeting over surging pasta prices
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

☆ Italy can cut massive public debt with migrant inflows, Treasury data shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Giuseppe Fonte | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Treasury estimates that a 33% increase in registered migrants in Italy would lead to a fall in public debt in 2070 by "over 30" percentage points more compared to a no-migrants-growth scenario. "Given the demographic structure of migrants entering Italy, the effect on the resident population of working age is significant," the Treasury said. The DEF also said migrant inflows can offset the negative impact on public debt of a shrinking population. Births in Italy dropped to a new historic low below 400,000 in 2022, national statistics bureau ISTAT said last week. Italy's public debt is targeted in the DEF to fall to 140.4% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2026 from 142.1% this year.

☆ Births in Italy hit record low in 2022, population shrinks further
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 7 (Reuters) - Births in Italy dropped to a new historic low below 400,000 in 2022, national statistics bureau ISTAT said on Friday, as the population continued to shrink. Last year Italy recorded more than 12 deaths for every seven births and the resident population fell by 179,000 to 58.85 million, ISTAT said in its annual demographic report. The population decline slowed somewhat compared with 2021 and 2020, two years heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Italy recorded 392,600 births in 2022, down from 400,249 the previous year, ISTAT said, the 14th consecutive fall and the lowest number since the country's unification in 1861. Foreigners made up 8.6% of the country's population in 2022, for a total of 5.05 million.

☆ Italian bank loans to firms fall as demand weakens: central bank
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 7 (Reuters) - Bank loans to companies in Italy declined sharply between November and February as demand weakened and interest rates rose, the Bank of Italy said on Friday. In the three months to February loans to the non-financial sector fell overall by 3.2% year-on-year, driven down by 7.5% drop in credit to companies, the Bank of Italy said in its quarterly bulletin. Between November and February the average interest rate on new bank loans to firms increased by 60 basis points (0.6%) to 3.6%, the central bank said. Loans to families in the three months to February edged down by 0.1% year-on-year, as demand for house mortgages declined, it added. Reporting by Alberto Chiumento, Luca Fratangelo, editing by Gavin Jones andOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Europe drought: This once-thriving lake has all but dried up -- a story repeated across Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Laura Paddison | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

While in the United States, the snow and rain that have pummeled California have helped fill reservoirs and ease unrelenting drought, winter has been far from kind to many parts of Europe. A buoy is seen on the banks of the partially dry Lake Montbel as France faces a record winter dry spell. “Lake Montbel remains at an abnormally low level,” Franck Solacroup, the regional director of the Adour-Garonne Water Agency, which covers the area that includes Lake Montbel, told CNN. Farmers like Rouquet, who rely on the lake, are having to make tough decisions on what to grow. “This is the most extreme winter in terms of low snow cover,” she told CNN.

☆ Rome hopes to reverse decline and relive La Dolce Vita
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Giselda Vagnoni | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/5] General view of the Colosseum next to a subway's construction sites in Rome, Italy, February 16, 2023. However, flailing public services can make La Dolce Vita seem a remote dream, for both visitors and residents alike. "It is the biggest investment plan Rome has ever had," Gualtieri told Reuters. "Milan was turned around by the EXPO and has become a city capable of attracting capital from all over the world. Rome is an incredible place and second to none," Luca Luciani, head of BAI Communications Italia, told Reuters.

☆ Italy may have staved off recession, economy minister says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Giuseppe Fonte | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

However, he did warn that European Central Bank rate rises would pose "serious problems" for high-debt countries such as Italy. An economic recession is widely defined as two consecutive quarters of declining GDP and the euro zone's third largest economy shrank 0.1% in the fourth quarter of 2022 from the previous three months. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's administration is due to unveil its new growth estimates and public finance targets next month. Annual growth is now expected at almost 1%, up from the 0.6% target set in November, a Treasury official has previously said. With the European Central Bank (ECB) raising interest rates, Giorgetti said Italy should keep following a "cautious and responsible" fiscal policy in order to lower its public debt.

While the error margins are unlikely to distort euro inflation in the long-term, economists say they could warp inflation expectations if not addressed, at a time when the European Central Bank is raising rates aggressively to tame double-digit inflation. As falling energy prices will take time to be reflected in household contracts, the current methodology will underestimate inflation when energy prices fall, CBS said. More volatility could follow when Germany introduces a cap on energy prices in March, that will also cut costs for January and February retroactively, he said. Eurostat has said that only measures that have a direct impact on energy prices, known to consumers before they purchase the energy, should reflect in inflation calculations. FEEDTHROUGH RISKSWith inflation at 10%, the calculation issues are unlikely to significantly impact the aggregate euro zone inflation print.

☆ Italy ageing faster than EU peers, population drops below 59 mln
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ROME, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Italy's population has dropped below 59 million and the country is ageing at a much faster rate than its European Union peers, national statistical agency Istat said on Monday. A shrinking and ageing population is a major worry for a stagnant economy like Italy as it is linked to falling productivity, less innovation and higher welfare bills among other things. "As of January 1, 2022 according to first preliminary data, the (resident) population has fallen to 58.983 million," Istat president Giancarlo Blangiardo said in a parliamentary hearing in Rome. Blangiardo, a renowned demography expert, said the national population has been shrinking steadily since 2014, with a cumulative loss since then of more than 1.36 million residents. "Our country's demographic outlook is characterised by a significant growth in life expectancy and by an equally marked fall of the birth rate, resulting in a much faster ageing of the population compared to the rest of Europe," he said.

☆ Italy's economy grows stronger than expected 0.5% in Q3, easing pressure on new govt
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

* Q3 GDP 0.5% q/q, 2.6% y/y* Easily beats forecasts* Q3 growth founded on domestic demandROME, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Italy's economy grew by 0.5% in the third quarter from the previous three months, preliminary data showed on Monday, a much stronger reading than expected which takes some pressure off the new right-wing government. On a year-on-year basis, gross domestic product in the euro zone's third largest economy was up 2.6%, national statistics bureau ISTAT said. The Treasury said last month that is expected to see a GDP contraction in the third quarter. ISTAT said that assuming GDP was flat quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter, full-year growth would come in at 3.9% this year. ISTAT confirmed second quarter growth at 1.1% from the previous three months but revised the year-on-year rate to 4.9% from a previously reported 5.0%.

Gross domestic product grew by 0.5% in the third quarter from the second and 2.6% year on year, national statistics bureau ISTAT said. Both preliminary readings were around half a percentage point higher than expected in Reuters survey of analysts, while the Treasury had said last month it expected a third quarter contraction. The government plans to raise next year's budget deficit to 4.5% of GDP, up from the 3.4% projected last month under current trends, a senior official said. Italian inflation hit 12.8% in October, the highest level since the country's EU-harmonised index was launched in 1996. Full year growth this year will come in at 3.7%, Federico forecast, above Rome's official 3.3% target.

☆ Italia a înregistrat un număr record de decese în 2020; „Parcă ar fi dispărut un oraş de mărimea Florenţei”
▼ + stars: | 2021-03-26 | by ( ) www.jurnal.md time to read: +2 min

Sursa foto: GettyImagesItalia a înregistrat un număr record de decese în 2020; „Parcă ar fi dispărut un oraş de mărimea Florenţei”Italia a înregistrat în 2020 cel mai mare număr de decese după cel de-al Doilea Război Mondial, din cauza pandemiei de COVID-19, cu peste 100.000 de decese mai mult decât media, a anunţat vineri Institutul naţional de statistică (Istat), relatează Agerpres. „Cadrul demografic al ţării noastre a suferit o schimbare profundă din cauza impactului deceselor asociate COVID-19”, a precizat Istat într-un comunicat. Numărul deceselor a depăşit de atunci pragul de 100.000 în Italia, prima ţară europeană puternic lovită de pandemie în urmă cu 13 luni. Populaţia Italiei s-a redus cu circa 384.000 de persoane în 2020 comparativ cu 2019, „de parcă ar fi dispărut un oraş de mărimea Florenţei”. „Noul record pentru scăderea naşterilor (404.000) şi numărul mare de decese (746.000), un record care nu a mai fost înregistrat niciodată după război, agravează dinamica naturală negativă care caracterizează ţara noastră”, a conchis Istat.

Persons: Istat Organizations: Agerpres Locations: Italia, Italiei

☆ Datoria publică a Italiei ar putea ajunge la un nou record postbelic
▼ + stars: | 2021-01-17 | by ( ) www.jurnal.md time to read: +2 min

Datoria publică a Italiei ar putea ajunge la un nou record postbelicDatoria publică a Italiei ar putea urca în 2021 la un nou record postbelic, de 158,5% din PIB, depăşind nivelul de 155,6% din PIB, stabilit în septembrie ca ţintă pentru 2021, informează Reuters. Anunțul a fost făcut de o sursă guvernamentală. Totuși, este de menționat faptul că, în prezent, datoria publică uriaşă a guvernului de la Roma este a doua cea mai mare din zona euro după cea a Greciei. În ceea ce privește deficitul din anul 2020, se pare că acesta este estimat între 10,5% şi 10,8% din producţia naţională. Cifrele finale ale deficitului şi datoriilor pentru anul trecut urmează să fie publicate de biroul naţional de statistică, ISTAT, în luna martie.

Persons: Reuters ., Guvernul Locations: Italiei, Roma, Greciei

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