(ANSA) - Rome, April 11 - ISTAT said Thursday that Italy's aging index hit a new high last year. The national statistics agency said in a report that, on January 1, 2018, the ratio of people aged over 65 with respect to the number of under-15s was 168.9%, putting Italy at the top of the European ranking for the aging populations.

It added that Italy had the lowest fertility rate in the EU along with Spain, with 1.32 children per woman in 2018, which was in line with the figure of 2017 but is well below the threshold needed to ensure that older generations are replaced by new ones.

