Despite the fact that 2020 is the year of the Covid pandemic, or as a possible side effect of lockdown, the number of births registered in central Tuscany has reached an all-time high of 1,000 during the last week of the year.
The 1,000th child born in the Asl Toscana Centro local health authority district, who arrived at the Santa Maria Annunziata Ponte a Niccheri hospital near Florence, has been named Anita. Child and mother are doing well. A spokesperson at the Asl Toscana Centro office noted that has been a 5% increase in births in the area when compared to 2019, when 980 babies were born. The statistics are mathematically divergent from the established nationwide trend that, according to ISTAT (Istituto Nazionale di Statistica), birth rates in Italy have been steadily on the decrease over the past 10 years The same agency also released the finding that, on the average, the birth rate of women resident in Italy in 2019 was only 1.27, with one third occurring among unmarried couples.
A spokesperson for the Ponte a Niccheri hospital also reported that there has been a decrease in Caesarean (C-section) deliveries at their facility in 2020, attributing the fact to the dedicated teamwork of staff obstetricians and midwives. (rosanna cirigliano)
To read more in Italian, visit Florence’s La Repubblica news site.
