Pope Leo has warned that falling birth rates pose a threat to Europe’s future.
The pontiff, who was speaking during a meeting last week with Italy’s President Sergio Mattarella said a notable decline in the birth rate in Europe over recent decades “calls for a concerted effort to promote choices at all levels in favour of the family, supporting its efforts, promoting its values and protecting its needs and rights.”
He added: “Let us do everything possible to give confidence to families – especially young families – so that they may look to the future with serenity and grow in harmony.”
Since 1960, there has been a downward trend in the number of children born in the EU.
In 2023 3.67 million babies were born in the EU, a 5.4 per cent decrease compared with the previous year- the largest annual decline since 1961.
The total fertility rate in 2023 was 1.38 live births per woman in the EU, down from 1.46 in 2022.
Last year Italy’s birth rate was 2.6 per cent lower than in 2023, with 370,000 births.
The Pope’s intervention comes as the Italian government is offering incentives for families such as tax breaks and extended parental leave to support and encourage families and prospective parents.
A decline in the birth rate impacts on society, the economy, tax revenues, and available workers.