The choice to have a child, as confirmed by Istat, is often postponed for economic or social reasons, thus creating a divide between the real family and the desired one. What can we do to change the tide? What strategies are required to increase young employment and childbearing rates? Scholars and specialists from several fields discussed this this afternoon at the Festival of the Family in Trento, at a seminar organized by Tsm-Trentino School of Management.
According to a 2023 poll performed by Area Studi Legacoop and Ipsos, 74% of Italians view the problem of diminishing fertility rates as urgent and demanding, and it clashes with the desire to have children, which is particularly strongly voiced by young people: 7 out of 10 would prefer at least two. Among the main causes of this worrying trend are: low wages and the rising cost of living, job instability and job insecurity, lack of public support for the costs of raising children, lack of widespread and accessible services for families, and the fear of losing one's job, higher among women. Along with economic factors, the Legacoop and Ipsos poll uncovers cultural and value shifts affecting today's young people. The rise of individualism, a lack of ability for sacrifice, and the flexibility of romantic relationships all affect 46% of respondents' decision not to have children. The reported data paint an incredibly complicated picture in which components of a private character, related to people's lives, are linked to structural fragilities in the country system and in the relationship between the individual, work, and services provided.