Natural increase (or decrease) in population is the difference between the number of live births and the number of deaths calculated over a 1,000 population. 2022 is an estimation Despite brief periods of growth in 2004 and 2006, the downward trend in Italy's population has prevailed over the last two decades, with the difference between the birth rate and the death rate (natural growth) being negative since 2007. As of 2022, Italy’s natural population decrease stood at a rate of 5.4 per thousand people. Italy has one of the lowest birth rates in the European Union (EU), and is also the oldest country in the EU, with an average median age of above 48. Aging at a much faster rate than other member states has caused the country to become the fastest-shrinking nation in the West.