Liguria and Friuli Venezia Giulia the oldest regions in Italy

According to Istat Demographic indicators for 2018, in Italy at the beginning of the year there are 169 people aged over 65 every 100 people aged between 0 and 14. At a territorial level the situation differs greatly: while in Campania (the youngest region in Italy, with a mean age of 42,4 years) the old-age index is about 125, followed by Trentino Alto Adige with an index of 136, the value for Liguria is more than twice, at 252. There are other five regions (Friuli V.G., Molise, Sardinia, Tuscany and Piedmont) in which the elderly population is more than twice that aged between 0 and 14 years. These results have clear implications on the pension and social system, leading to an increase in costs for the elderly healthcare and way of life. 

Compared to ten years ago, Istat data show that only in Emilia Romagna the aging index remained almost unchanged, while it increased by over 25 percentage points at a national level: the Emilia Romagna population was the only one in Italy (along with Toscana) recording a growth rate of people aged 0-14 (+0,4 percentage points) together with a definitely lower increase than in other regions (0.9 percentage points compared to 2.4 in Italy) of the share held by people aged 65 and over.

Sardinia ranks last with an old-age index increased by more than 54 percentage points. This development was the result of two factors: on the one hand a fall in the share of young people (from 12,6% to 11,5%) and on the other one a strong increase of the share of older population (from 18,5% to 23,2%).

In 2017 Emilia Romagna gained another record, the highest net migration (4,7 per thousand inhabitants), mainly due to migration flows among regions (2,6 per thous. inhabitants, the highest ratio in Italy), but also due to international migration flows (4,1 per thous. inhabitants).