Children born out of wedlock are increasingly becoming a new normal: today they are almost one in two, especially among mothers under 25 and among Italian couples. But the phenomenon is not uniform across Italy: the geographical area also makes a difference, and Sardinia is the region with the highest percentages.
The most recent Istat data tell of a double profound change in Italian demography: on the one hand the collapse in births, on the other a cultural transformation in the way of forming a family.
In 2024, the average number of children per woman fell to 1.18: the lowest value ever recorded. Provisional estimates for the first months of 2025 are even less encouraging and indicate a further decline to 1.13. But within this framework of demographic crisis, there is a fact that clearly signals a new trend.
Being born out of wedlock is no longer an exception. In 2024, 43% of children were born to unmarried couples. For comparison: in 2008 it was only one in five children. In just over 15 years, therefore, the share of births outside of marriage has more than doubled and marriage is less and less perceived as a necessary step to becoming parents.
Almost 86% of births outside of marriage concern celibate and unmarried parents, that is, couples who consciously choose to have children without first getting married.
This trend is not the same throughout Italy, but even in the areas traditionally most linked to marriage, the gap with the rest of the country is rapidly narrowing. Central Italy is in fact the geographical area where the most births occur by unmarried couples (50%), followed by the North (43%). But even in the South, this phenomenon is growing strongly, reaching 40%, with a leap forward of almost 2 percentage points in just one year.
Differences also emerge at a regional level: in the North there is a higher percentage of births out of wedlock in Valle d’Aosta and in the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, in the center in Umbria and Lazio, while in the South in Abruzzo. However, the absolute highest percentage is recorded in Sardinia.
Young people are driving the change: among mothers under 25, almost 2 thirds (62%) of children are born out of wedlock. This share drops to 44% among 25-34 year olds and to 38.5% among those over 34: the lower it goes with age, the more the choice to have children without getting married becomes the norm.
Finally, there is a clear distinction linked to citizenship: among Italian couples, 47% of births occur outside of marriage, while among foreign couples the percentage drops to 28%. This gap shows how the change is more linked to an Italian cultural phenomenon than to immigration.
In summary, in Italy fewer and fewer children are being had, but more and more often out of wedlock. Religious or civil unions are losing their centrality, especially among younger people and in some areas of the country, while families with unmarried couples are becoming more and more frequent.
