Italy is trying to deal with its demographic decline

In relation to demography, as well as public debt, Italy is often compared to Japan. It has Europe’s second-lowest birth rate, at 1.2 babies per woman. Its population has been shrinking since 2015. Pension reform was pushed by the Monti government in 2011-13 but has been partly reversed, leaving Italy spending the highest share of GDP on pensions in the OECD. Child-care costs are high. Politicians duly fret. Giorgia Meloni’s decision to appoint as family minister a conservative Catholic, Eugenia Maria Roccella, and add “birth rate” to her ministry’s title, is telling.