Italy's fertility rate falls as women reject childbearing by Lucinda Evans

The size of the Italian family has shrunk dramatically, according to government statistics. The definitive version of Italy's 1991 census, recently published by the National Institute of Statistics, shows that the average family fell to 2.8 members compared with 3.4 in 1971. Most families have either only one child or none.
Underlying the drop is a fall in fertility that has put Italy on course for zero population growth. In the 10 years before the census was taken, Italy's population grew by just 221000. Italy has a population of 57500000.
By 1991, the traditional view of the Italian family was rapidly disintegrating. Children aged under 6 years formed 5.8% of the population, while people aged over 65 years made up 15.3%. There was roughly only one grandchild for every three grandparents.
The decrease in fertility started in the middle of the 1960s and accelerated in the 1970s. The reasons.