Italy beyond the Lowest-Low Fertility

Advanced societies are facing a new childbearing and childrearing regime. Italy, internationally known as the case of "lowest-low" fertility, appears to be in transition towards this new regime. That's the reason why, in 2009, Università Bocconi, Università di Padova, Università di Torino and ISTAT, the Italian national statistics institute, started a research project publicly financed by the PRIN (Progetti di ricerca di rilevante interesse nazionale) program.

On 20 and 21 February the final conference of the project has been held at Bocconi's Dondena Center for Research on Social Dynamics, with the participation of scholars from the three universities, ISTAT, DIW Berlin, University of Oxford, University of Essex and Universitat Pompeu Fabra.

"Only a few decades ago", the organizers write in describing the new regime, "fertility rates were high and children were born almost exclusively within marriage. Within families and across society, the male breadwinner model was the norm. The new regime is more complex. In most advanced societies, period fertility is low to very low, but in very recent years, it has started to increase. Parenthood is experienced at older ages. Societies such as Italy are facing substantial and sudden increases in the inflow of migrants. Cohabitation and out-of-wedlock childbearing are on the rise. Time spent by parents with children is increasing. The male breadwinner model is on retreat everywhere. Policymakers are increasingly more worried about population dynamics on one hand, and the quality of human capital investments in children on the other. The decision-making process on having children now emphasizes self-actualization, and being a happy parent of quality children while being a good worker have become equally important goals".