The Florentine population is aging a lot. If on the one hand the data is certainly positive, we live longer, on the other hand this data brings with it considerable consequences.
“The problem is not the increase in the number of the elderly population, given that, with different numbers, it is common to the whole country and the whole Western world, but the demographic imbalance, that is, the strong decrease in birth rates in the face of the increase in so-called ‘elderly’, over 65”, explains Mario Batistini, secretary of the Spi CGIL Florence.
As can be seen in the table above (data published by the Municipality of Florence, updated to March 2024), the total residents in the city are just over 367 thousand. Among these, approximately 37 thousand under 14 and over 100 thousand over 65.
“In fact, today more than one person in four in Florence is elderly and there are over 233 elderly people for every one hundred children aged between zero and fourteen. A trend which, in all likelihood, will further accentuate in the coming years, even if the birth rate increases again. To address and sustain such a demographic imbalance it is essential to rethink the organization of the city”, continues Batistini. But let’s take a step back and see how much the number of Florentines has changed from the post-war period to today, obviously, for reasons of space, in broad terms.
The Florentine population from the post-war period to today
In the immediate post-war period the city of Florence had a very similar population (in total number, certainly not in age groups) to that of today. Just think that in 1951, six years after the end of the Second World War, the residents numbered just over 374 thousand while in 2023, Istat data, there are 367 thousand and change. In between, everything happened.
There was strong growth in the 1950s and early 1960s, until it reached and exceeded 450 thousand residents. Between 1951 and 1971, in just twenty years, the Florentines increased by over 80 thousand ‘units’, reaching the figure of 457 thousand, to rise again to reach 460 thousand residents in 1979. Then a constant decline began (in 1982 we were still 449 thousand, as can be seen in the table below, from Istat) up to 362 thousand residents in 2000: this means the loss of almost 100 thousand residents in twenty-one years, between 1979 and 2000.
Impressive numbers, if we consider that land consumption from the post-war period (when there were many more of us) to today (we are much fewer but we have millions of tourists a year who certainly weren’t there once), has continued at an impressive pace , without ever stopping, like new buildings. In short, the population is decreasing, but construction continues, incessantly, as happens throughout Italy, where more and where less.
But returning to the historical series, from 2000 to today the number of Florentines is more or less the same, even if, as we said at the beginning, it is a significantly aged population: in 2023 the Florentines, still ISTAT data, are little more of 367 thousand.
Retaining young people
“In the last twenty years, as the data shows, there has actually been no escape from Florence. The city is attractive and is also capable of attracting young people. If anything, we need to improve in our ability to ‘retain’ young people. This is the challenge to be faced: how to give young people opportunities and profound reasons to stay in our territory, offering on the one hand jobs that live up to expectations and on the other wide accessibility to essential goods”, explains Enrico Conti, the municipal councilor of Pd delegated by mayor Nardella to statistics.
Essential goods which obviously also include the house, an issue that has become a real emergency, with the multiplication of the phenomenon of short-term rentals and the cost of rentals which has reached staggering figures.
Suitable for the elderly… and children
“A city suitable for the elderly actually also becomes child-friendly. Let’s think, for example, of the green spaces close to home, which are fundamental for the former but also for the latter, but also for social services and mobility”, explains Batistini of Spi Cgil .
“Many elderly people – he continues – live alone, especially women, often over 80. For this reason it is necessary to rethink the entire system of services and welfare, insisting on home care and support services for daily life, from shopping to traveling, improving public transport”.
What kind of ‘residence’?
The home issue obviously also affects the elderly. “The RSAs are increasingly acquiring a sanitary character, but they can lead to very difficult conditions of existence. Innovative experiences are needed, where people can continue to live in small apartments among relatives, couples, or simply acquaintances, to have at the same time a space suitable for an elderly person with poor mobility and the possibility of sharing it, perhaps also having a series of services”, continues Batistini.
The trade unionist refers to the much celebrated ‘social housing’, intended in theory for that group of people who are not so economically poor as to be able to access public housing but not so well off as to support a market price. A social housing condominium reserved for the over 65s was inaugurated a few days ago in via Baracca.
“Another similar important project is the one that is being created in Montedomini. It will be a public structure, adjacent to the historic Rsa. There will be small apartments with forms of assistance, a public experience that must be a point of reference for all other experiences”, underlines Batistini. Yes, a public experience, unlike, for example, the one that arose in via Baracca.
“There the initiative is of a private nature. The model goes in the direction we share, small apartments in which a series of supports are inserted, where autonomy and sociability live together, with a series of services. But while for health and social-health structures , like RSAs, there is legislation, for these new forms of residence there is no regulation, there is no regulatory framework” the union warns. Not a small detail. It could end up – this is the conclusion of Batistini’s reasoning – that only elderly people with ample economic resources can afford such accommodations. It wouldn’t be new.
Tags: Rethinking city serves youngest
