Having children is becoming a luxury that fewer and fewer Italians can afford. Every year sets a new record low for births. The difficulty of finding affordable housing, job insecurity, the fact that becoming a mother is still viewed as a career risk, insufficient services, and the fear of being left to face it alone are all causing an increasing number of young people to postpone or abandon their desire to have children. According to a report prepared by the Birth Foundation in partnership with Istat (National Institute of Statistics), 62.2% of respondents stated they had given up having children owing to economic or work-related constraints, while only 5.5% claimed children were not part of their life goal. This resulted in only 355,000 children being born in 2025, a new record low, with a fertility rate of 1.14 children per woman. "If even the stated intentions of women of childbearing age were realized, double the number of children would be born in Italy", the research notes. Low business productivity leads to lower pay and a loss of international competitiveness. Not having a good wage has a significant impact on quality of life and future decisions, to the point where 2.8 million people mention economic or work-related challenges as the primary barrier to having children.