PB01.All01 Rev02 30/11/2009
SIS 2011 Statistical Conference
Alma Mater Studiorum-Università di Bologna
June 8, 2011- June 10, 2011
Statistics in the 150 years from Italian Unification
Book of Short Paper
Dipartimento di Scienze Statistiche “Paolo Fortunati”
Quaderni di Dipartimento
Serie Ricerche 2011, n. 10
Official statistics and role of the chestnut from
unification of Italy to nowadays
Adua Mario
Abstract The agricultural investigation of the italian Parliament, published in 1884,
also highlighted, especially in reports on individual territorial districts, the importance of chestnut in the italian mountains. Since the early twentieth century are available long time series collected by ISTAT (National Statistics Institute) data on surface and production of the chestnut and foreign trade of the chestnuts.
Key words: Role of the chestnut, statistics, multifunctionality, agricultural policy
1 Official statistics and role of the chestnut
The chestnut (Castanea sativa Miller) is the breadfruit and the tree of life that precedes and then accompanies the first man in history. Since Roman times, and even more in the Middle Ages and in Modern times, Italy is the european territory in which the chestnut spreads further contributing increasingly to the survival of the mountaineer.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, the widespread presence of chestnut still identifies two particular social and economic situations: “The international poverty and the chestnut” portrays the role of the chestnuts in human nutrition in large parts of the Alps and the Apennines and “The civilization of the chestnut" photographs with a still of the customs, traditions, use of timber, fruit and use rules that govern the lives of many mountaineers from Piemonte to Veneto, from Lombardia to Calabria [1].
The agricultural investigation of the italian Parliament, published in 1884-1886, also highlighted, especially in reports on individual territorial districts, the importance of chestnut in the italian mountains [2].
Since the early twentieth century are available long time series collected by Ministry of Finance [3] and ISTAT (National Statistics Institute) [4, 5, 6] data on surface and production of the chestnut and foreign trade of the chestnuts.
The examination of the many available statistical data to divide the evolution of italian chestnut by the unit to date in four historical periods.
Adua Mario, Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT), email: adua@istat.it
Figure 1: Chestnut production (production on thousands of tons). Years 1909 – 2008
Figure 2: The fruitbearing chestnut area (surface on thousands of hectares) – Year 1951 – 2004
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1909 1919 1929 1939 1949 1959 1969 1979 1989 1999 Ye ars P roduc ti o n 250 300 350 400 450 500 1951 19561961 1966 1971 19761981 1986 1991 19962001 Years S u rf ace
Source: Istat, Forestry statistics – Years 1909-2008 Source: Istat, Forestry statistics – Years 1951-2004
Figure 3: Export of chestnuts (quantity on thousands of tons). Years 1909 – 2009
Figure 4: Import of chestnuts (quantity on thousands of tons). Years 1951 – 2009
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 1909 1919 1929 1939 1949 1959 1969 1979 1989 1999 2009 Years Q u a n ti ty 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 Years Q u a n tity
Source: Ministry of Finance, Commercial movement – Years 1909-2008
- Istat, Foreign trade - Years 1934-2009
Source: Istat, Foreign trade – Years 1951-2009
1.1
The first period: “the autumn of the patriarch"
The first period, from 1901 to 1950, “the autumn of the patriarch", is characterized by a general decrease in cultivation, however, maintains basically stable overall role of the italian mountain agro-forestry. In the early twentieth century, based on the conclusion of the Agricultural cadastre, it began the publishing of annual data of forestry; for 1910 it was estimated a total area in high forest of chestnut of 652 thousand hectares and a production of 607 thousand tons (Fig. 1). In 1911 it was observed the historical maximun of production: 830 thousand tons.
In the thirties ISTAT (then Central StatisticsInstitute) [7] realizes the survey on the cultivation of chestnut in Italy – Years 1934-1938. This survey is the picture sharper and more detailed on the role of the chestnut tree in the agricultural landscape and chestnuts in the diet. The survey shows a total area of 532 thousand hectares, and many other characteristics. The number of chestnut trees amounts to 61.7 million, divided into 308 varieties grown in almost all provinces, from 20 to 1,500 meters high. During “the autumn of the patriarch" in wide mountainous and hill areas, the chestnuts are still the main quantitative component for winter nutrition. After 1937, the production continues to decline, falling to 305 thousand tons in 1950 (Fig. 1); the
export is less affected by the production trend and ended the period with 241 thousand tons of chestnuts sold in foreign markets (Fig. 3).
1.2
The second period: “the long winter"
The second period, from 1951 to 1980, “the long winter", is identified as a time of great decadence and the decline of the species itself.
The changed socio-economic conditions result in a strong urbanization and industrialization in view of the gradual depopulation of the mountain. Farmers are attracted by higher incomes, by a different way of life, from increased comfort and opportunity to improve their conditions and a more varied and rich diet.
Especially in the mountains and inaccessible areas, the farming operations normally carried out in chestnut trees (pruning, cleaning theundergrowth, fertilization, etc.) are reduced as well as the actual collection of fruits. During “the long winter" the production of chestnuts is drastically reduced from 332 to 63 thousand tonnes (Fig. 1); while exports reduce from 241 to 167 thousand tonnes (Fig. 3). Althought Italy exported fresh chestnut, it started to import, even if in limited quantities (Fig. 4). In the same period also two also major parasitic diseases (the ink disease and chestnut blight) contribute to the reduction of production and to the abandonment or the cutting of numerous chestnut.
1.3
The third period: “the awakening giant"
The third period, from 1981 to 2000, “the awakening giant", which sets out the first of chestnut signs of rediscovery, followed by a limited but promising economic recovery and the overall enhancement of the multifunctionality of Castanea sativa in the agricultural landscape. The eighties slowly prepare the “awakening of the giant”. The consumerism decreases, a different quality of life and a new relationship with nature and environment, are sought, the traditions of the mountain are appreciated, there is growing interest in the product types, organic farming and quality products. The chestnut controls the loss of cultivated area and, since 1985, the amount was equal to 276 thousand hectares (Fig. 2) while the production and exports show signs of recovery. In fact, the production increases in 1998 to 784 thousand tons, even if it drops to 632 thousand in 2000 (Fig. 1). Exports continue to absorb much of the national product and is, in 2000 equal to 227 thousand tons (Fig. 3) (35.9% of the chestnuts in the year).
At the same time, the import becomes a constant of the external trade of the sector and, after the peak in 1990 with 8.6 thousand tons, ended the period with the entry into Italy in 2000 to about 5.2 thousand tons (Fig. 4).
1.4
The fourth period: “the new springtime”
The fourth period, from 2001 to present, “the new springtime", that shows, though timid and contradictory, chestnut comprehensive reassessment and its suppliers and value added consisted of history, culture, traditions, custom, fruit usage and processing, use of timber, medicinal and dietary properties, handicrafts, tourism, food, enjoyment of the landscape, territorial organization.
This process is not yet reflected in the statistics: the surface does not increase, in 2008 production reduced to 26 thousand tonnes (Fig. 1); in 2009 export decreased to 18,6 thousand tonnes while imports increased to 6,1 thousand tonnes. There is also an
increase of the incidence of a new parasitic disease caused by the chestnut Cinipide (Dryocosmus kuriphilus). Generally a more favorable climate for chestnut is observed; proof of this are the 15 PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) and PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) products, 14 of which have already been recognized by the European Union (EU) and 1 in a transitional national protection [8] and over 100 products included in the Tenth revision of the list of traditional agro-industry products [9]. In the recent years there were also numerous Leader and Leader Plus plans financed by the U.E. concerning the chestnut tree. The survey on "Festival of Fruit" performed by the Research Centre for Fruit [10] observed 245 official holidays dedicated to chestnuts in areas with deep-rooted culture and chestnut culture.
In the last decades, scientific research was very interested in depth studies on the chestnut, as botle the numerous national and international conferences and hundreds of publications devoted to the sector, evidenced.
The many recognitions on the multi-functional importance of the chestnut tree in the agro-industry sector, in the agricultural landscape, in rural development and in the consumers perception, are the conditions both for an agricultural and productive possible restarting and for a more dynamic business of chestnuts and processed products in local markets, domestic and foreign.
2 Conclusions
Up to the first half of the twentieth century chestnuts are often a basic component of the winter diet of mountain populations. Currently chestnuts (fresh, dried and pulverized) represent only a very small component of the diet while the qualitative value, the environmental value and multifunctionality of chestnut are increasing.
The Sectoral plan of the chestnut (2010-2013), recently approved by the State-Regions Conference [8], is the regulatory response, cognitive and operational planning for a new approach, including statistical information, the world's chestnut.
Even the official statistics in this sector is required to detect more detail both the physical structures (surface, production, etc..) and the qualitative aspects, economic and social, issues related to rural development and the new agricultural policy of U.E.
References
1. Adua M.: Il Castagno: un albero da riscoprire, pp. 158. Grafiche Abramo, Catanzaro (2000) 2. Atti della Giunta per l’inchiesta agraria e sulle condizioni della classe agricola: Voll. I-XV -
Parlamento del Regno d’Italia, Roma (1884-1886)
3. Ministero delle Finanze: Movimento commerciale – Anni 1909-1933, Roma (1910-1934) 4. ISTAT: Statistiche del Commercio con l’estero – Anni 1934-2009, Roma (1935-2010) 5. ISTAT: Statistiche forestali – 1956-2008, Roma (1957-2010)
6. ISTAT: Sommario di statistiche storiche italiane – 1861-1955, Roma (1958) 7. Regno d’Italia: Gazzetta Ufficiale n. 99/1938, Roma (30/04/1938) 8. Mi.PAAF: Prodotti agroalimentari – www.politicheagricole.it/ Roma (2011) 9. Repubblica italiana: Gazzetta Ufficiale n. 145/2010, Roma (5/07/2010) 10. Fideghelli C. (a cura di): Le sagre della frutta – MiPAAF CRA, Roma (2010).
1
Changing Italian Families and Population Statistics
What we know and what we miss
Marco Albertini, Università di Bologna
In the present paper I will try to provide a brief overview of the changes in family related
behaviors since the Italian unification till the beginning of the new century. In doing that I will also try
to point out to what extent population statistics have contributed to document, study and measure
these phenomena.
The public discourse about family change in Italy
In the public discourse, it is common to refer to present-‐day changes in family characteristics and
behavior as “unprecedented”, “impressive”, “revolutionary” -‐ with respect to an (imagined) golden
age of the family. The argument goes on suggesting that in the past families were large – both due to
high number of children and to the frequent cohabitation of many generations and conjugal units in
the same house – and stable. Elderly people were respected and taken care of within the walls of the
home, solidarity within the family and kin network was strong, young people leave early parental
home (a clear contradiction with respect to the presumed high frequency of multiple households)
and marry frequently, quickly establishing their own family.
The assumption behind this kind of comparison between past-‐time and present-‐day families is
that in the last centuries, or decades, there have been a series of linear changes in individuals’ family
related behaviors. From past to present: people are marrying less and at later ages (while having first
sexual relations earlier in their lives); when exiting home children establish their separate residence
far away from parental home and have rare contacts and exchange of support with relatives; an
increasing number of young people is not getting married but simply cohabit with their partner;
marital instability has increased at an unprecedented pace; simultaneously fertility is decreasing
while a growing number of people remain childless; and eventually, since family solidarity is fading
away, elderly people keep living by themselves when getting frail and eventually end up living in a
residential home the last years of their life.
Complex and articulated change patterns
Quite differently from what is usually deemed in the public discourse about family and family
change, in the last 150 years changes in family related behaviors have been slow, complex and not
linear. Furthermore, the extent and direction of family change has been very differentiated across
different regions and social classes, and in urban vs. rural areas.
Changing marriages
Population statistics reveal that the propensity to marry – as measured by the general nuptiality
rate – is considerably lower today than it was in 1861. In the period between the Italian unification
2
and the beginning of the 1960s there was no systematic variation in the propensity of Italian people
to marry (figure 1). In fact, despite in these 100 years there were quite remarkable inter-‐annual
variations, these can be more easily explained by marriage market–shocks connected with wars or
deep economic crisis, than by disaffection towards marriage (D’Agata 1969). This trend is
discontinued during the marriage boom of the 1960s and 1970s, which mainly involved the birth
cohorts born between the end of the 1930s and the mid 1950s. Starting from the 1970s a marked
decreasing trend in nuptiality has been registered. This latter trend is partly due to the
postponement of marriage by people in the youngest birth cohorts (i.e. those born after 1955), and it
is still unclear to what extent this will results in higher percentages of never married individuals.
Nevertheless, it is clear that the rapid and significant decrease in the number of marriages, in
absence of any major shock in the marriage market, does represent a relevant change in the history
of Italian families.
Part of these variations are, of course, connected with the different ages at which people of
different birth cohorts marry for the first time (Rettaroli 1992; Barbagli et. Al 2003). Thus, for
example, the marriage boom of the 1960s and 1970s was largely due to the decreasing average age
at which young Italians entered into marriage. Similarly, the rapid decrease in marriage rate in the
following decades is partly driven by an increase in the average age at first marriage for the birth
cohorts born after 1955. As a matter of fact, the trend in the mean age at first marriage has
decreases from the mid XIX century to the 1960s – particularly for women; whereas in the following
decades the trend has reversed. As a result of these changes, at the beginning of the XXI century,
Italians are marrying at a much older age than they did in the few decades after the unification.
Despite of the marked variations in the extent to which people marry, changes in the rate of
young couples cohabiting without being married have been quite small. In the census of the 1931,
among families with at least two members, 2.4% were considered “irregular”, that is to say that
partners were not married and/or children born outside the wedlock were present (D’Agata 1969).
Some decades later, cohabitation among women born between 1945 and 1949 was still below 5%.
These numbers increased quite markedly among the following birth cohorts of women living in the
northern regions of the country, but remaining well below the levels registered in other European
countries (Di Giulio and Rosina 2007: figure 1; Nazio 2007). This delay in the diffusion of cohabitation
arrangements among young Italians seems to be largely driven by mechanisms connected with their
pronounced dependence on parents’ economic support, and the latter reluctance in accepting other
living arrangements than marriage.
3
Fig. 1 General nuptiality rate and singulate mean age at marriage
Besides these long-‐term macro level trends, recently available micro level data and ad-‐hoc
surveys allowed researchers to start analyzing the possible causes and mechanisms behind the post-‐
1960s decrease in the number of marriages. The first finding that should be pointed out is that only a
small part of this decreasing trend is due to a substitution of marriages with permanent cohabitation.
Indeed, not only cohabitations spreads over 10% of all first unions only in the northern regions and
among the 1960s birth cohort, but also it has been shown that a large part of these unions do
represent a transitory period between the status of living apart together and that of married couple.
In other words, in most of the cases cohabitation is a prelude to marriage and not an alternative to it.
Secondly, the delay in the transition to the first marriages seems to be driven by a number of
different factors. Among the most prominent, and largely investigated in the literature, are: the
increasing duration of the educational career and, consequently, the later entrance into the labor
market; the postponement of economic independence due to the late entry in the labor market and
the increasing quota of precarious/atypical jobs among the young population; parents’ and children’s
aversion to intergenerational downward mobility both in terms of occupational status and
consumption levels -‐ the effect of this mechanism has been boosted by the high level of absolute
upward social mobility registered during the late 1950s and the 1960s (Saraceno and Naldini 2007;
Pisati 2002). Parallel to these changes there has been an increase in the frequency of young couples
living apart together, i.e. individuals in long-‐term partnerships who keep living in their respective
parental homes. This phenomenon is related with a marked change in the characteristics and quality
of intergenerational relations within the family (Barbagli 1984, Barbagli et al. 2003).
A further change in the behaviour related to marriage has to do with the number of civil
marriages. The prevalence of non-‐religious marriages was quite low in the first decades of the XX
0 5 10 15 m ar ria ge s* 10 00 in ha bi ta n ts 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 males females 22 24 26 28 30 32 si n gu la te m ea n ag e at m a rr ia ge 1861 1871 1881 1891 1901 1911 1921 1931 1941 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001
4
century, representing slightly more than 3% of all marriages in 1930. In the few following years this
quota decreased significantly, being equal to 0.8% in 1942. In the next three decades the trend
remained quite stable, and civil marriages never represented more than 2.7% of all marriages
(D’Agata 1969). But, starting from the 1970 – simultaneously to the introduction of divorce – a
growing quota of marriages were not religious ones. The numbers have kept increasing also after the
initial boosting effect due to the introduction of divorce, notably the trend has accelerated at the
beginning of the XXI century. A large part of the increasing trend, which is shown in figure 2, is clearly
to be attributed to the number of people re-‐marrying after a divorce. This is particularly the case for
the growth registered during the 1970s. However, the percentage of civil marriages has also grown
quite rapidly from the 1980s onward (Barbagli et al. 2003: figure 3.2).
Fig. 2 Percentage of civil marriages over total number of marriages
There are also other characteristics of marriages that have undergone relevant and interesting
changes. Firstly, the control of parents and relatives over their children’s marriage market has
considerably decreased; consequently the latter have a higher degree of freedom in choosing their
partner (Saraceno and Naldini 2007; Barbagli 1984). Despite of this, it cannot be argued – as the
ideology of the romantic love would suggest – that people marry randomly. As matter of fact the
relevance of the educational system as a marriage market is increasing, and as a result partners’
educational homogamy has been on the increase in the last decades (Bernardi 2002; Barbagli et al.
2003). Secondly, it has dramatically changed the relation between marriage and individuals´ sexual
experiences. An increasing number of individuals have their first sexual relation well before marrying,
often with a partner different than the one they will marry. More in general, it has changed the
relation between moral and ethical values and individuals’ sexual life and sexual behaviour (Barbagli
et al. 2010; Camoletto 2010). Thirdly, a number of factors (such as the ideology of romantic love,
societal cultural change, increasing female participation in the labour market, etc.) contributed to the
fact that an increasing percentage of marriages are based on a more equilibrated power balance
between the wife and the husband (symmetric marriages) vs. a prevalence in the past of marriages in
which the balance of power was biased toward the husband (asymmetric marriages) (Barbagli 1984;
Saraceno e Naldini 2007). Next in the few last decades it has grown the quota of marriages in which
one or both the spouses were not born in Italy (Balsamo 2003).
0 10 20 30 40 % civi l ma rr ia g es on to ta l 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
5
Increasing marital instability?
It is commonly assumed that due to increasing divorce and separation rates family instability has
grown to unprecedented levels in the last few decades. However, this statement has been clearly
challenged by some historical studies showing that family instability due to the death or permanent
migration of one partner was much higher in the past than it is nowadays (Saraceno and Naldini 2007;
D’Agata 1969).
Furthermore, it is interesting to note that if we consider the separation rate before the
introduction of divorce in the 1970, the trend is clearly non-‐linear – in particular between the end of
the second World War and the introduction of divorce the trend is a u-‐shaped one After the
introduction of divorce, however, both separation and divorce rates boosted, and they kept
increasing until the beginning of the new century. It is still unclear if the lower pace at which
separations increased in the first part of the new century is a sign that, similarly to what happened in
other European countries, a plateau in the prevalence of marital break-‐ups is to be expected in the
next few decades.
Fig. 3 Separation and divorce rates (* 100.000 residents), before 2006 averages per year using the number of requested separations.
In recent decades, the collection of data about separation and divorce procedures from the
tribunals, new micro-‐level data and ad-‐hoc surveys have allowed for a more refined description of
the characteristics of marital break-‐ups and the children custodial arrangements after partners’
separation. Thus, for example, it is known that: marital separation is more common in northern
regions than in southern ones, and among middle classes than in lower social strata; the average
duration of marriages before divorce is on the decrease; the number of contentious divorce
procedures is also diminishing – despite huge regional differences in their prevalence are still
registered, being consensual separations much less frequent in southern regions; the prevalence of
joint custodial arrangements had markedly increased from the early 1970 to the early 2000s, then
boosting due to the introduction of the 2006 reform (law 54/2006) (Saraceno and Naldini 2007).
However, the scant availability of large longitudinal data set (being the sample size particularly
relevant here due to the low number of separations) does represent a clear obstacle to the further
exploration of the causal social mechanisms (and not simply the correlates) behind marital
1896-900 1901-10 1911-20 1921-30 separations divorces 0 50 10 0 15 0 se p ara tio ns /d iv o rc e s * 1 00 00 0 in h ab ita nt s 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
6
dissolution, and the analysis of its consequences on ex-‐spouses well being, children well being and
intergenerational relations. Despite of this, recent demographic and sociological research has
significantly contributed to shedding light on the causes and consequences of separations and
divorces in Italy (Barbagli e Saraceno 1998; Todesco 2009; Albertini and Dronkers 2009; Albertini e
Saraceno 2008; Tomassini et al. 2004; 2008; Livi Bacci and Mencarini 2009; Meggiolaro and Ongaro
2010; Ongaro and Mazzucco 2009)
Previous analyses on the determinants of spouses’ separation in Italy suggest that the event is
positively correlated with partners’ cohabitation before marriage, spouses’ educational level, women
employment, and the divorce of spouses’ parents (intergenerational transmission of divorce). Also, it
is an open issue in the literature if the presence of children negatively affects the likelihood of
parental divorce, or simply leads to a postponement in spouses’ separation. As for what concerns the
consequences of divorce on the well being of the ex-‐spouses, it has been shown that ceteris paribus
divorced individuals are usually faring less well than married ones with respect to average income
and economic poverty risks. This negative correlation is stronger for women than for men. It is also
shown that marital disruption negatively affects women’s fertility. Statistics show that children of
separated parents have worst educational outcomes than children from intact families – although
this disadvantage tends to disappear at increasing mothers’ educational levels. Also, similarly than
their parents, children of divorce are at higher risks of economic poverty. More in general, parental
separation leads to less traditionalistic family behaviors of children. Eventually, a considerable
amount of empirical evidence points to the fact that intergenerational relations are negatively
affected by parents’ separation; however this effect is markedly different depending on the gender
of parent/child and the specific relation considered i.e.: contact, exchange of social support, financial
support.
Less children and more childless couples?
The transition to a low mortality and low fertility regime in Italy took place later than in other
European countries. In fact, the reduction of fertility started in the last decades of the XIX century
and, thus, slightly after the Italian unification. The process, however, took place at a different time
and pace in the different areas of the country – generally speaking moving from north to south and
from west to east. The highest levels of dissimilarity in fertility behavior between the different
regions were registered during the 1930s. Overall the process of the transition from natural fertility
to a low fertility regime has lasted around 60 to 70 years – starting in the 1880s in Liguria and
Toscana and ending in Sardegna during the 1950s (Livi Bacci 1980; Livi Bacci and Breschi 1992). After
the transition to a low fertility regime, however, the birth rate has kept decreasing. Despite a rapid
but short-‐lasting increase in the 1960s, the reduction in the number of births has been quite rapid
until the 1990s when, apparently, the trend flattened (figure 4). Birth rate levels at present are
particularly low and there is a general consensus in indicating the Italian situation as one of lowest-‐
low fertility (Billari and Kohler 2002). It is worth noting, however, that it would seem that significant
inflows of young immigrants have offset, for the time being, some of the most negative demographic
consequences of such low fertility levels (Dalla Zuanna e Billari 2008).
The causes of the decreasing number of children have been extensively investigated in
demographic research, and providing a summary of this research will take far more space than is
available here. However, simplifying we can argue that some of the most relevant factors behind the
historical decrease in fertility are: the decreasing mortality rate at young ages, the changing relation
7
between family organization and the organization of economic production, the adoption of efficient
contraceptive methods and devices, the increasing investment in the “quality” (i.e. education and
informal care) of children, the increasing relevance of individuals self-‐realization in legitimating
conjugal unions (king couple), the postponement of marriage, the increasing participation of women
in paid labor market.
What has changed in the last 150 years of Italian families history is not only the number of
children, but also the relation between parents and children within the family. Despite the
documents and data available on this relation are quite limited – in terms of reliability, richness and
representativeness of the entire population -‐ it has been generally argued that in the last century
parent-‐child relations have become more affectionate, less formal, more intimate and less informed
by the authority of the father (from patriarchal to intimate family) (Barbagli 1984).
Despite the considerable reduction in fertility, and the fact that fertility is much lower in Italy than
in most of the other European countries, it has to be noted that childlessness rate is not particularly
high both in comparison to levels registered in Italy at the beginning of the XX century, and present-‐
day values observed in other European countries. As a matter of fact, the rate of childlessness for
Italian women born between 1955 and 1959 is considerably lower than those registered for Italian
women of the 1900-‐04 and 1905-‐09 birth cohorts, and also much lower than the levels characterizing
same-‐age women in Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany (Rowland 2007).
Fig. 4 Birth rate and % of births out of the wedlock
Parallel to the slow and late increase in cohabitations, a quite reduced number of births out of the
wedlock was registered for a long period after the Italian unification (figure 4). A few years after the
Italian unification births out of the wedlock just represented slightly more than 5% of all births, this
1862-661870-72 1880-82 1890-92 1900-1902 1910-1912 1921-1926 10 20 30 40 bi rt hs * 1000 inhabi tant s 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 1863-70 1871-801881-90 1891-900 1901-10 1911-201921-301931-40 1941-50 1951-60 0 5 10 15 20 25 % o f b ir th s o u t o f th e we d lo k 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
8
percentage has increased in the following decades reaching a peak in the period between 1881-‐1890.
Starting from the last decade of the XIX century, the value has continuously diminished reaching
2.2% in 1963. In the last few years, however, the number of children born from unmarried parents
has considerably increased, summing up to more than one fifth of all births in 2008. This change in
family related behavior is of paramount importance from the perspective of family sociology. Indeed
it signals a marked change in the social understanding of the relation between family and marriage.
Family solidarity at risk?
On the basis of data showing a decreasing trend in the number of multiple generations
households and in the residential proximity between parents and children, it has been argued that
family ties in Italy are weakening, family solidarity is diminishing and the provision of adequate
support to dependent individuals is out of reach of modern Italian families.
As a matter of fact, it has been common practice to indirectly study family solidarity by analyzing
intergenerational co-‐residence and living proximity. This is mainly due to the scant availability of
other types of data regarding family relations beyond the co-‐resident nuclear family (Levi 1992: 307).
Other information about family relations in the past can only be collected on the basis of personal
communications (letters) or diaries. However, not only the search and analysis of this material is
particularly demanding, but also there is a clear bias in the social classes for which this information is
available and in the type of information that is reported in these documents (Barbagli 1984).
Recently nation-‐representative and quantitative information on intergenerational contacts and
exchange of support between non co-‐resident individuals have become available. (i.e. 1983 survey
“Strutture e comportamenti familiari”). However, this type of information is still generally missing in
longitudinal databases. Moreover, the variables collected are often insufficient to provide an
accurate description of within-‐family – and in particular intergenerational – relations along the
individuals’ life course. For instance, the information collected in the recent 2003 survey “Famiglie e
Soggetti Sociali” does not allow for analyses of intergenerational relations in terms of parent-‐child
dyads).
During the 1950s and the 1960s the leading hypothesis regarding the long-‐term transformation of
family structures in Western Europe was that in the past the multiple generations family was the
prevalent family form, whereas after the industrial revolution nuclear families were the most
frequent. A number of studies has confuted, or corrected, this quite simplified version of the history
of families in Europe (Viazzo 2010). Nevertheless, despite the non linearity of the transformation, it
has been shown by Barbagli that in Italy the rapid industrialization and urbanization of the 1950s
have lead to a marked process of nuclearization of families (1984: 121). Next, among those who
married between 1948 and 1972, the distance between parent and children’s place of residence
increased. On the basis of these data a number of scholars argued that in post-‐WWII Italy family
solidarity and ties were weakening.
However, the decrease in living proximity registered in the three decades after the Second World
War is likely to be due to the migration of large quotas of population from the southern regions to
the industrialized north (Barbagli et al. 2003). In fact, the trend has flattened and reversed in the
following marriage cohorts. And, in addition, further analyses of living distance between children and
their mother at the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the new century reveal that there has not
9
been any dramatic change in these figures – despite some decrease at higher ages is registered
(figure 5).
Following these data and also the results of cross country comparison in intergenerational co-‐
residence in modern Europe, some authors argued that the strong ties family model of southern
Europe (Reher 1998) has survived major social and economic changes of the post-‐mid century
compromise societies. Moreover, it has been suggested that by looking at increasing propensity of
Italian parents to financially support their children’s home ownership, one could also argue that
intergenerational solidarity has increased in recent decades (Barbagli et al. 2003: 189).
Figure 5: Living proximity between children and the closest parent after marriage, by marriage cohort; mother-‐ child living proximity by age group of the child, cumulative percentage.
One clear limitation of analyzing family solidarity by considering intergenerational living
arrangements -‐ or living proximity -‐ is that the contact and resource exchange between non co-‐
residing family members cannot be directly observed. This poses a serious limitation to what we can
argue about the transformation of family solidarity. Due to data availability limitations, concentrating
on the exchange of social and economic support between the generations only allow us to observe
quite recent changes in family relations. However, I think it is worth doing that because it helps us
giving a full account of recent changes in family solidarity.
The data shown in figure 6 show that the quota of families providing support to someone outside
the household has increased, or at least it has not diminished, in the period between the early 1980s
and the beginning of the XIX century. The growth is particularly marked for two types of families: (i)
those in which both at least one elderly person and one child are present; and, on the opposite (ii)
those in which neither an elderly person nor a child are included. The pattern of changes, however, is
quite different once we concentrate on the quota of families that has reported having received some
<50 km
<16 km
<1 km
co-res or same building
30 40 50 60 70 80 90 10 0 Cu m u la tiv e p e rc e n ta g e b y liv in g a rr an g e m e n t 1945 1948-52 1953-57 1958-62 1963-67 1968-72 1973-77 1978-82 1983-87 1988-92 1993-97 marriage cohort
co-res or same building <1 km <16 km 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 <24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-69 <24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-69 1998 2003
10
support from outside the household in the four weeks previous to the interview. Here the general
trend is a decreasing one, with families with at least one elderly member (but no children) suffering
the larger decrease. What remains unclear is the source of the differences between the trend in
support given and that in support received.
Fig. 6 Percentage of families that have received or given support from/to outside the household, by family type
Additional and more detailed data on the support provided to individuals outside the household
confirm an increasing trend in family solidarity between the end of the 1990s and the beginning of
the new century (figure 7). In particular, it has markedly increased the quota of women aged
between 34 and 54 years who provide support to parents (their own or of their husband) and, also,
the percentage of women aged 55 or more who provide support to non co-‐residing children. More in
general, in the five years considered it has augmented the provision of support to parents among the
so-‐called “sandwich” generation, and the support given to children by parents aged 55 years or more.
Furthermore, additional signs of increasing family solidarity are recorded in three-‐generations
relations. In fact, the quota of grandparents taking care of young grandchildren (i.e. less than 14
years old) on a regular basis -‐ that is to say when parents are working or the grandchild is ill – has
increased, whereas it has remained stable the percentage of those who never take care of the
grandchildren (figure 8).
0 10 20 30 40 0 10 20 30 40 1983 1998 2003 1983 1998 2003 1983 1998 2003 1983 1998 2003 1983 1998 2003
elderly - no children elderly & children no elderly - children
no elderly - no children Total
11
Fig. 7 Percentage of individuals (by age and gender) who provide unpaid support to someone outside the household in the four week previous to the interview, the recipient of “the most relevant support provided” is reported.
Fig. 8 Percentage of grandparents taking care of their young grandchildren
Concuding remarks
The last 150 years have witnessed marked changes in Italian families, under many different aspects.
On the one hand, population statistics have contributed to document, study and measure these
phenomena. On the other hand, the way in which statistics were collected, disseminated and made
available to the scientific community have been largely influenced by family changes and by the
8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 1998 2003 1998 2003
granchild is ill emergency
parents are at work never
m
