At the date of the 11th census (October 24, 1971) the resident population in Italy was 54,136,457 residents. In December 1976 the population rose to 56,324,727 residents. In the ten years from 1961 to 1971 the number of births decreased by −0.57% per year, as well as the surplus of births over the dead (−1.64%). In the same decade, however, the global balance of emigration with foreign countries also fell considerably, resulting in an increase in the resident population a few points higher than the normal growth rate.
From 1961 to 1971 the Italian population increased by approximately 3,400,000 units, with an annual growth rate of 6.5 per 1000 residents, a value not far from the average recorded from 1861 to today. This growth rate, however, was very different in Italy north-central and southern Italy, where it was 9.5 and 1.4 ‰ respectively. The weight that the populations of the Italy central and northern areas have over the country as a whole, while the relative importance of the South has decreased, where, by now, just over a third of the national population lives, despite the fact that its territory is equal to 43% of that of the entire country. It should also be emphasized that in Italy the southern population present does not correspond at all to the officially registered one, given that about 450,000 people residing in the southern regions have actually moved elsewhere, while in Italy The reverse phenomenon occurs in northern and central Italy, measured by 179,000 actual units present, even if not registered in the registry office.
However, the most important phenomenon is the difference in the growth rate of the population between the various statistical divisions of the country. The smallness of the population growth rate for Italy southern Italy is closely connected with the trend of migratory flows. On the other hand, the general trend is that of a constant lowering of the average birth rate and mortality to levels which, compared to those in Europe, can be defined as decidedly low (17 and 10 ‰ respectively). However, the natural increase has decreased very little, keeping values not far from those recorded over the last century (8-9 ‰). Also in this case, the situation is very different when we consider the Italy southern. Excluding the South, in fact, the birth rate for the rest of the Italy it has significantly reduced and is now at very low levels (15 ‰) despite the large influx of young people from the southern regions where the birth rate is among the highest in Europe (21 ‰). Mortality, on the other hand, decreased more in the South mainly due to a more favorable age composition of the population and despite the fact that infant mortality is still very high (33 ‰ mortality in the first year of life). The high birth rate and the lower mortality rate in the South have two important effects: on the one hand, the natural growth in the southern area has values around 13.5 ‰ equal to more than double the analogous rate referred to in the northern regions -, on the other hand, the South, with its 36% of the population, takes part in the total natural increase in the country by 58%. These are the two most evident aspects of the so-called phenomenon of southernization of the national population.
The indications obtained from the census data relating to the migratory phenomenon are also significant. In the last inter-census decade there has been a worrying exasperation of the trends that had taken place in the previous decade. The number of emigrants in the period between 1951 and 1961, just under 1,900,000 units, seemed a sad record that would be difficult to surpass for the South. Between 1961 and 1971 it rose to 2,362,000, which brings the total of twenty years of southern emigration to 4.2 million which, out of an average population of 19 million, makes the phenomenon take on the dimensions of a real leak. The creation of road infrastructures and the initial modernization process initiated in some southern regions was not able to slow down the migratory flow: the rupture of the
It can be said that all the southern regions have a deficit of migration. In the decade between 1961 and 1971, 20% of people left Basilicata, 18% Molise and Calabria, 10% the South as a whole. We cite the example of the province of Isernia from which more than 20,000 residents emigrated of the 106,000 who formed its population in 1961; of the 229,000 residents of the province of Enna, 52,000 emigrated in the same period.
It seems serious that the worsening of the migratory balance was also recorded in provinces such as Brindisi and in south-eastern Sicily, where considerable investments were also made in the industrial sector.
Keeping the municipalities-capitals distinct from the other municipalities, it is possible to deduce useful elements on the direction of migratory currents and on some problems that derive from them. In the decade 1961-71 the provincial capitals increased in general at a rate almost 4 times higher than that of the other municipalities. A very clear difference between the Italy central-northern and southern Italy, on the other hand, concerns the municipalities that are not provincial capitals, which are becoming depopulated in the South (−2 ‰ per year), while in the rest of Italy they are growing at a rather rapid rate (+ 7 ‰ per year).
For the South, these data confirm the trend towards concentration of the population in urban centers with a preference for the most important ones; the differences that exist in the provincial areas between the present population and the resident population accentuate this trend. But currently not even the cities in the South exercise an effective action to contain emigration, so much so that between 1951 and 1961 the increase due to immigration in the municipalities-capitals of the Italy southern Italy was still positive (2.2 ‰) while, in the last decade, there was a reversal of the trend (−3.6 ‰ per year). They are the capitals, in particular the Sicilian ones, but also part of the Apulian and Campania ones, which have had very substantial migratory losses. And for the few capitals that have continued to record positive migratory balances (Salerno, Potenza, Cosenza) the phenomenon is only apparent, given that the southern cities are only a transit place for the rural and mountain exodus and a starting point for the centers. industrialized, or more properly metropolitan, for those who have received an adequate education or have managed to give themselves a first professional qualification. Due to the substantial natural balance, the cities of the South, despite the negative migratory balance, constitute important poles of demographic development even where there has been no industrialization, while in the large cities of the Italy The trend towards decentralization of settlements and productive activities has already strengthened for some years in the north and in the center. Potenza, Cosenza) the phenomenon is only apparent, given that the southern cities are only a transit place for the rural and mountain exodus and a starting point for industrialized, or more properly metropolitan, centers for those who have received adequate education. or have managed to give themselves a first professional qualification. Due to the substantial natural balance, the cities of the South, despite the negative migratory balance, constitute important poles of demographic development even where there has been no industrialization, while in the large cities of the Italy The trend towards decentralization of settlements and productive activities has already strengthened for some years in the north and in the center. Potenza, Cosenza) the phenomenon is only apparent, given that the southern cities are only a transit place for the rural and mountain exodus and a starting point for industrialized, or more properly metropolitan, centers for those who have received adequate education. or have managed to give themselves a first professional qualification. Due to the substantial natural balance, the cities of the South, despite the negative migratory balance, constitute important poles of demographic development even where there has been no industrialization, while in the large cities of the Italy The trend towards decentralization of settlements and productive activities has already strengthened for some years in the north and in the center. given that the southern cities are only a place of transit for the rural and mountain exodus and a place of departure for industrialized centers, or more properly metropolitan centers, for those who have received an adequate education or have managed to give themselves a first professional qualification. Due to the substantial natural balance, the cities of the South, despite the negative migratory balance, constitute important poles of demographic development even where there has been no industrialization, while in the large cities of the Italy The trend towards decentralization of settlements and productive activities has already strengthened for some years in the north and in the center. given that the southern cities are only a place of transit for the rural and mountain exodus and a place of departure for industrialized centers, or more properly metropolitan centers, for those who have received an adequate education or have managed to give themselves a first professional qualification. Due to the substantial natural balance, the cities of the South, despite the negative migratory balance, constitute important poles of demographic development even where there has been no industrialization, while in the large cities of the Italy The trend towards decentralization of settlements and productive activities has already strengthened for some years in the north and in the center. adequate education or have managed to obtain a first professional qualification. Due to the substantial natural balance, the cities of the South, despite the negative migratory balance, constitute important poles of demographic development even where there has been no industrialization, while in the large cities of the Italy The trend towards decentralization of settlements and productive activities has already strengthened for some years in the north and in the center. adequate education or have managed to obtain a first professional qualification. Due to the substantial natural balance, the cities of the South, despite the negative migratory balance, constitute important poles of demographic development even where there has been no industrialization, while in the large cities of the Italy The trend towards decentralization of settlements and productive activities has already strengthened for some years in the north and in the center.
The case of the province of Turin is exemplary, whose population increased between 1961 and 1971 by 15% in the capital, while it grew by 40% in the other municipalities. The example of Milan is also typical with an increase of 9% for the urban area and 38% for the province.
On the recent evolution of the active population and on the workforce as a whole, the census data indicate for Italy a decline in the degree of participation of the population in productive activities, and the phenomenon is of a general nature: in fact the whole country has seen the rate of activity drop from 38.7% to 34.7% in the last decade. However, it shows a different trend in the North where it is 37.3 (−3.8) and in the South where it is 30.2% (−4.6). The contraction of the active population occurs in all economically advanced countries and is a phenomenon that is linked to the processes of transformation of the economic and social structures even more than to the demographic structure. The extension of compulsory schooling, the average duration of studies beyond the compulsory range, are certainly positive factors, improvements in social security legislation that accelerate the passage of the elderly into inactive categories and, finally, the restructuring of agricultural employment which involves the passage of a large number of assistants, especially children, to the inactive population. However, this is not the case with Italy southern Italy, where the contraction in the rate of activity touches pathological levels in some provinces, mainly due to a backward economic structure in which the phenomena of intersectoral imbalance are widespread. It happens that, due to the lack of absorption capacity by other productive activities, the labor force expelled from agriculture is not used in other sectors, or at least remains underutilized. It, therefore, simply moves in place, going to swell, in the city, the ranks of the unemployed and precarious workers. In other words, the exodus from agriculture is not reflected in a proportional increase in employment in other sectors and therefore translates into a contraction in the rate of activity (see table 4).
