Village in Italy welcomes 1st baby in nearly 30 years: Report

The Brief

• A rural town in Italy welcomed its first baby in nearly 30 years.

• Lara Bussi Trabucco’s birth brings her town of Pagliara dei Marsi – located in Italy’s Abruzzo region – to about 20.

• Countries such as Italy, China, and South Korea are implementing incentives for people to have families amid dwindling population numbers.

A rural village in Italy has just welcomed its first baby born in nearly 30 years.

Lara Bussi Trabucco’s birth brings her tiny town of Pagliara dei Marsi’s population to roughly 20, according to a Guardian report. 

What they’re saying

“People who didn’t even know Pagliara dei Marsi existed have come, only because they had heard about Lara,” her mother, Cinzia Trabucco, told the Guardian. “At just nine months old, she’s famous.”

Baby bonus and hope

Dig deeper

Trabucco, 42, and her partner, Paolo Bussi, 56, were given a €1,000 bonus after their daughter was born.

The bonus is part of a pledge that was introduced by the government to tackle Italy’s dwindling population, the Guardian reported.

By the numbers

The number of births in Italy has fallen steadily from about 577,000 in 2008 to 380,000 in 2023, the first year since Italy’s unification that the number fell below 400,000.

Big picture view

Studies say that’s due to a combination of factors, including a lack of openings for affordable child care, low salaries and a tradition of women caring for older parents.

Other countries such as China, South Korea and Japan are facing similar challenges.

The Source

Information for this article was taken from reporting by The Guardian and previous reporting by The Associated Press. This story was reported from San Jose.