Italy’s birth rate, already one of the lowest in the world, has been falling steadily for about 15 years and reached a record low last year.

Italy’s birth rate, already one of the lowest in the world, has been falling steadily for about 15 years and reached a record low last year.

Pope Francis is stepping up his campaign to urge Italians to have children, calling for long-term policies to help families and warning that the country’s demographic crisis was threatening the future.

“The number of births is the first indicator of the hope of a people,” Francis told an annual gathering of pro-family groups on Friday.

“Without children and young people, a country loses its desire for the future.”

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    Pope Francis is stepping up his campaign to urge Italians to have children, calling for long-term policies to help families and warning that the country’s demographic crisis was threatening the future.

    With the Vatican’s strong backing, the right-wing government led by Giorgia Meloni has mounted a campaign to encourage at least 500,000 births annually by 2033, reaching a rate that experts say is necessary to prevent the economy from collapsing under the weight of an ageing population.

    Francis called for long-term political strategies and policies to encourage couples to have children, including an end to precarious work contracts and impediments to buying homes, as well as ensuring that women aren’t forced have to choose between motherhood and a career.

    “The problem of our world is not children being born: it is selfishness, consumerism and individualism which make people sated, lonely and unhappy," Francis said.

    Francis is expected to continue emphasising demographics during the upcoming 2025 Holy Year, which will feature hope as its main theme.

    In a Jubilee decree issued on Thursday, Francis called for a new social covenant among Christians to encourage couples to be open to having children.

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