The claim: Italy had no births for three months in 2023
An Oct. 21 Instagram video (direct link, archive link) shows a man reacting as a narrator shares supposedly alarming news about Italy.
"Italy achieves unthinkable world record," the narrator begins. "No births in three months. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the entire country of Italy. They have not seen a birth in three months."
The narrator goes on to say Italy is "going through an extinction event."
The video was liked more than 30,000 times in about a month. Similar posts were shared on Facebook.
More from the USA TODAY Fact-Check Team:
Our rating: False
Government data shows Italy had tens of thousands of births monthly in the first eight months of 2023, and there are local media reports of births as well.
Data shows thousands of children born every month in Italy
Tens of thousands of children were born every month in Italy during the first eight months of 2023, according to the Italian National Institute of Statistics. Specifically, births totaled 31,105 in June, 33,753 in July and 33,093 in August, the three most recent months with data available.
Multiple reports published by Prima La Martesana, an Italian news outlet, show births documented in September, October and November.
The number of births in Italy has been declining for years. In 2022, births went down by 1.7% to 393,000, the lowest number since the country was unified in 1861 and the 14th straight year of decline, according to Reuters.
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Italy's overall population is expected to drop by millions of people over the next few decades, according to the government's projections. The population that totaled 59 million in 2022 is projected to drop to 58 million by 2030, 54 million in 2050 and 46 million in 2080.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni earmarked about 1 billion euros as part of an effort to address the issue.
The narration in the Instagram video matches a blog post on Medium that had, as of Nov. 28, been removed by the website.
USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Reuters also debunked the claim.
Our fact-check sources:
- Italian National Institute of Statistics, accessed Nov. 28, Monthly data
- Italian National Institute of Statistics, Sept. 28, Population and Households Projections - Base1/1/2022
- Prima La Martesana, Sept. 24, Cicogna News is back: the births of the week in the newspaper (and online)
- Prima La Martesana, Oct. 24, The whole world in Melzo, with the newborns of Santa Maria delle Stelle
- Prima La Martesana, Nov. 22, Snow White's dwarfs were seven, the puppies born at Santa Maria delle Stelle in Melzo… eight
- Reuters, Oct. 26, Births in Italy heading for new record low in 2023 - stats office
- Reuters, Oct. 16, Italy unveils tax-cutting 2024 budget amid debt worries
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