«The demographic history of Calabria is marked by emigration: despite the more favorable natural dynamics compared to Italy, today the residents are 10% less than in 1951. Depopulation is accompanied by low employment rates and an unfavorable economic trend: the regional GDP in 2024 was 12% below the level of 2007, before the Great Recession, and in per capita terms it does not reach 60% than the national one, the worst value in the ranking of the regions”. This is what Istat says in a report that tells, with data in hand, the transformations of the Italian regions in the long term.
We are and live less
Let’s take a look at the population: «Between the Census of 1861 and 1951 the resident population in Calabria increased from less than 1.2 to over 2 million, with a growth rate similar to the national one, but subsequently stopped growing, remaining stable until the peak in 1991, and then decreasing to just over 1.8 million in 2024, with a loss of over 10% compared to 1951. The divergence compared to Italy is due to outgoing migratory flows, which were particularly large after the Second World War, but have continued until now; the presence of a natural balance that was much higher than the national average for a long time and remained positive for longer has attenuated its impact, just as net immigration from abroad did after the year 2000; Despite this, in the last five years the demographic contraction has almost tripled the national rate. The aging of the population in Calabria is lower than in the country: in 2024 there are 197 over-65s for every 100 young people under 15, compared to a national value of 208″, says Istat. In Calabria, however, we live less. And, what’s more, the situation has gotten worse over the years. «Life expectancy at birth, equal to 73.9 years in 1974 and higher than the national average, is 9 years higher in 2025 while in Italy it has grown by 11, up to 82.9 years, making Calabria slip into the group of the least long-lived regions».
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