We are all praying for Italy.
We are also learning more and more about a unique situation contributing to the outbreak.
To put it simply: Italy is an old country!
Italy has one of the oldest populations in the world, with a median age of about 46 years old.
Nearly 60% of the population is aged 40 and over, about 23% of which is over 65 — heightening the population’s risk with regards to the novel coronavirus currently spreading through Italy.
As of Monday, over 9,000 people in Italy had contracted the COVID-19 disease caused by the new coronavirus, and more than 463 others have died.
The new figures make the country home to the largest number of infections outside China, the epicenter of the epidemic.
Why did Italy’s population get so old?
My guess is that Italians did not plan to be the one of the oldest populations of Europe.
At the same time, Italians stopped reproducing years ago.
The average Italian family today only has 1.2 children or a lot less than the 2.1 per woman required to maintain a population.
Wy did that happen? The answer is complicated but men and women simply decided that having babies was either too expensive or inconvenient.
No matter what, Italy’s shrinking population and aging workforce have been an issue for years. The Coronavirus has just brought it to the forefront.
Sadly, a similar situation is developing in Spain. My guess is that other European countries will go the same way.
