Italy population to shrink by nearly 4 million by 2050 as ageing accelerates

File photo: Tourists pose in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy (Picture credit: AP) Italy's population is projected to shrink by almost 4 million people by 2050, with a rapidly ageing population posing fresh challenges for the country's economy and welfare system, according to new projections released by the national statistics bureau ISTAT on Monday.Italy's resident population is expected to fall to 55 million by 2050, from 58.9 million at the start of 2025, before declining further to 45.8 million by 2080, ISTAT said, according to Reuters.The projections come as Italy continues to grapple with a long-running decline in births and a growing elderly population.Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had made boosting the birth rate a government priority after taking office in 2022, but births have continued to fall.Births remain near record lowsBirths have declined steadily in Italy since 2008 and fell to around 355,000 last year, the lowest figure since the country's unification in 1861.ISTAT projected that annual births would remain broadly stable until 2030 before falling further to 335,000 by 2050.Deaths, meanwhile, are expected to rise as Italy's large post-war baby boom generat...