Italy's birth rate continues to drop. According to preliminary data given by Istat and examined by Openpolis, around 370 thousand children were born in 2024, which is 10,000 less than in 2023, a 2.6% decline in just one year. The comparison with the past reveals an even more concerning trend: compared to 2008, a year that represents a peak in the recent historical series with about 577 thousand births, the reduction is more than 206 thousand units, corresponding to a 35.8% collapse. The causes are essentially structural: the population of childbearing age has declined, with fewer people than in earlier generations. Added to this is the ongoing drop in fertility, which in 2024 reached a new all-time low, with an average of 1.18 children per woman, lower than both the 2023 figure (1.20) and the previous negative record set in 1995 (1.19). Openpolis highlighted how this trend may significantly impact policies targeting educational poverty, and pointed out territorial disparities in the phenomenon.