The demographic decline in the mountains stops, the plain area remains stationary while the hill area is always particularly attractive. The Statistics Office of the Provincial Administration publishes the (provisional) data as of 31 December 2023 of the population in the Piacenza municipalities, as shown in the municipal registry lists (LAC) developed for the survey of the Emilia-Romagna Region. “Although to be confirmed in the years to come to talk about a real reversal of trend – it is highlighted -, the mountain data is still significant and highlights the important role played in this regard by the foreign component of the population. There is also confirmation of the importance of the phenomenon of the acquisition of Italian citizenship by foreigners, a phenomenon which – in witnessing the growing integration process of resident immigrants – has also contributed significantly this year to the positive demographic trend which was able to be observed on the provincial territory”.
THE DATA – At the end of 2023 i residents in the province of Piacenza they total 287,241, of which 141,473 males (49%) and 145,768 females (51%). The recovery from the lows of the pandemic therefore intensifies (when the highest population decline in the last 10 years was recorded), with an absolute increase of 889 inhabitants and a rate of change (+0.3%) triple compared to that of the 2022.
Source: Processing by the Statistics Office of the Province of Piacenza on data from the Emilia-Romagna Region – LAC (provisional data)
In particular, the male population increases by 678 units (+0.5%) while that female grew by 0.1%, 211 more people. Also at the end of 2023 the foreigners there are 43,893, and they are down by 25 units compared to the previous year (-0.1%), thus accounting for 15.3% of the total population (same value as 2022). There population of Italian nationality (243,348 inhabitants), on the other hand, confirms its upward trend and increases in the provincial territory by 914 units (+0.4%) compared to 2022, an increase which also on this occasion is however due exclusively to the component of Italian citizens “born abroad” (+1,649, where acquisitions of citizenship by foreigners take on a predominant weight), which more than compensate for the population losses recorded by Italian citizens “born in Italy” (-735).
Source: Processing by the Statistics Office of the Province of Piacenza on data from the Emilia-Romagna Region – LAC (provisional data)
Moving on to demographic changes at the municipal level, in capital Piacenza the total population decreased by 47 residents (-0.05%), in particular due to the absence of a push from foreigners, who in fact decreased by 406 units (-2.0%), now representing 19.5 % of the total population. The Italian population instead increased by 359 units: +747 Italian citizens who were born abroad, and -388 Italians born in Italy. The demographic dynamics were also poorly tuned to Castel San Giovanni, the municipality characterized by the highest incidence of foreigners in the province (at the end of 2023 they were 23.9% of total residents), which recorded a weak +0.1% for the overall population (17 more units), but a – 1.1% for the non-Italian component (-37 residents). The resident population also grew slightly during 2023 Fiorenzuola d’Arda, 35 more inhabitants, equal to +0.2%, thus remaining above the threshold of 15 thousand residents, while Brake breakerthe other municipality with more than 10 thousand inhabitants, showed a significantly higher development rate, +0.4%, -32 foreigners, +84 Italians.
From the point of view of the different altimetric zones, during 2023 the population residing in the mountain areas (14,068 inhabitants), thanks above all to the developments recorded by the foreign component, has finally grown (by 0.4%, +53 inhabitants), after the negative variations observed in 2022 (-0.5%), in 2021 (-2.0 %) and more generally in previous years. Emerging here are Cerignale (+5.1%), Coli (+1.8%) and Zerba (+1.4%) in Val Trebbia, Bettola (+1.8%) and Ferriere (+0.3%) in Val Nure, but also Alta Val Tidone (+0.8%). It’s thehilly area (80,998 residents), however, is the one experiencing the greatest increase in population at the provincial level, both in absolute terms (+517 units out of 889 overall) and in percentage terms (+0.6%), highlighting particularly positive dynamics in Agazzano ( +1.6%), Borgonovo (+1.4%), Castell’Arquato (+0.9%), Lugagnano (+0.7%), Ponte dell’Olio (+0.9%), Rivergaro ( +0.9%) and Ziano (+1.5%). L’plain area (192,175 inhabitants) instead showed the least high rate of demographic change (+0.2%, corresponding to 319 more residents), due above all to the stagnation of the capital (-0.05%), but also to a lack of dynamism in the urban centers of the first (+0.4%) and second belt (+0.2%) of Piacenza. In this regard, it is worth noting the population decline observed in Gossolengo, Gragnano (both with -0.4%) and Vigolzone (-1.0%).
The municipalities that scored in 2023 i more consistent rates of demographic development they were Cerignale and Gazzola, with values above 2%, and Castelvetro, Coli, Bettola, Agazzano, Ziano, Borgonovo, Zerba, Besenzone, Caorso and Pontenure, with values between 1 and 2 percent. Morfasso (-3.0%), Villanova (-1.4%), Farini (-1.0%), Vigolzone (-1.0%), Ottone (-0.9%) and San Pietro in Cerro ( -0.9%) were the municipalities that on the contrary highlighted the greater negative variations of population. Overall, the Piacenza municipalities where the population grew during 2023 are 36 (78%), compared to 27 in 2022 (59%).
Again based on regional calculations, as of 31.12.2023 the resident families in the province of Piacenza they amount to 132,498 units, 596 more than the previous year (see the details by municipality in the tables). In particular, households made up of a single member (single-person families: +545) and two-member households (+176) increased, while families with three (-116) and four (-146) individuals decreased. The largest families, those with five (+81) and six or more members (+56), also increased. Among people who live alone (single-person families), approximately 30% (15,111 individuals out of 52,185) are aged 75 or over, and of these more than 5,600 live in the capital.
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