Italian town where the mayor pays you to have a baby

High in Italy's Apennine hills, a white haired pensioner sits alone on a bench watching autumn leaves blow down a deserted street.

Not much else moves, the games machines are switched off in the empty village bar and there is hardly a sound.

No one in the town square, no children on bikes or in prams.

This small village, 93 miles (150km) south-east of Naples, is running so short of children that its mayor is offering

€10,000 (£6,863) to anyone who produces one.

In Laviano, houses stand empty while the cemetery is full. Last year, only eight babies were born in a population of 1,850.

Young couples are constantly drifting north in search of work.

'We need to drum up enough children to make a class. Otherwise the school will have to close,' said the mayor.

Italy has the lowest birth rate in Europe and Italians spend more on their children than any other European nation. Young couples struggle to find a good job faced with rocketing prices and peer pressure to dress their children in designer clothes. Procreating has become a luxury many Italians cannot afford.

What is meant by an “ageing population”?

Ageing Population?

Credits:

Flickr users:Heather JonassonThomas MuellerSabianmaggyLuca ZappaHanna NikkanenPete JelliffeGarry KnightNicolas Raymond

Time bomb image: Daily Mail

Data: US Census

Based on an original article by Sophie Arie published in The Observer Sunday 9th November 2003

Noel Jenkins 2014