Italy has 'lost' three million young adults since 2002

Istat said that the number of people aged 18-34 in Italy is approximately 10.2 million this year, a drop of over three million on the nation's population of young adults in 2002, Azernews reports, citing ANSA.

The decrease has been especially sharp in southern Italy, where the youth population has fallen by 28%, compared to 23.2% for the whole nation.

The national statistics agency said that Italy is the EU country with the lowest incidence of 18-34-year-olds in relation to the total population - 17.5% in 2021, compared to an EU average of 19.6%.

It said that, despite registering a big loss in the number of youngsters, the proportion of people aged between 18 and 34 is higher in southern Italy, at 18.6%, than in the centre and north (16.9%).