Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has called for an all-Russian ban on "encouraging women to have abortions" in order to combat the demographic crisis. Source: Patriarch Kirill during the inauguration of the 11th General Church Congress on Social Service, as reported by RBC, a pro-Kremlin Russian news outlet Quote: "Unfortunately, the number of abortions in the country remains as high as before.
Births in Italy are heading for a new record low this year, according to preliminary data that points to a deepening of the country's long-standing demographic crisis. Between January and June there were 3,500 fewer births than in the same period of 2022, the data from national statistics bureau ISTAT showed. In 2022 as a whole, births fell 1.7% to 393,000, a 14th consecutive drop and the lowest number since the country's unification in 1861.
More than a third of Italy's population will be over 65 by 2050, up from about a quarter last year, the country's statistics office ISTAT said on Thursday, offering more evidence of a serious demographic crisis. In a report, ISTAT also estimated that the ratio between people of working age (15-64) and people who are too young or too old to work (0-14 or 65 and above) "will decrease from about three to two in 2022 to about one to one in 2050." A shrinking and ageing population is a major worry for the euro zone's third-largest country, leading to falling economic productivity and higher welfare costs in a country with the highest pension bill in the 38-nation Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Only about one out of every three Koreans aged 19 to 34 have a positive perception of wedlock, illustrating the mentality among young people towards matrimony, which is resulting in a sharper decline in the number of marriages and a deepening demographic crisis, according to a report, Monday.