Pope Francis will address Italy’s demographic crisis at an event

“The birth of children, in fact, is the main indicator to measure the hope of a people. If few are born it means there is little hope. And this not only has consequences from an economic and social point of view, but also undermines confidence in the future,” the Pope stressed at the 2023 conference.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported last week that the US birth rate also hit a record low in 2023 and that the total number of births was the lowest in decades.

According to the report, slightly fewer than 3.6 million babies were born in 2023, or 54.4 births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44. This represented a 2% decrease in total births and a 3% decrease in births per 1,000 women compared to the previous year.