Fewer inhabitants but more families. This is the situation in Sardinia photographed by the Permanent Census of the population updated to 31 December 2020 and which was presented this morning by Istat.
On the island there is a strong growth in the number of single-person households , it is estimated that in 2030 40 percent of Sardinians will live alone. Furthermore, in 2040 there will be 1.4 million residents, a sharp decrease from the current 1.6 million.
The average age in 2039 will be nearly 51 years with a decade increase in "seniority" compared to the turn of the century.
In detail, there are 1,590,044 residents in Sardinia, 21,577 less than in 2019.
56.5% of the population lives in the provinces of Sassari and Cagliari which together cover 37.1% of the territory. In particular, in the province of Cagliari there are 337.6 inhabitants per km2 against 66 per km2 on the regional average.
On the other hand, Nuoro and Oristano, the provinces with the greatest rural characterization, which cover 35.8% of the regional surface and have the lowest levels of density, respectively 35.7 and 51 inhabitants per square km.
Between 2019 and 2020 the population in Sardinia decreased in all the provinces (-1.4% the average decrease), to a lesser extent in the province of Cagliari (-0.3%) and more consistent in the others: Nuoro and Sud Sardinia -1.8%, Sassari and Oristano -1.7%. The exception is represented by Olbia which for the future is the only center of large proportions destined to see an increase in its population.
But Istat data managed to detect the effects of the pandemic in 2020. As stated in the report, the excess of deaths, directly or indirectly attributable to Covid-19 , has led to an increase in the mortality rate in the region since 10.5 per thousand in 2019 to 11.7 per thousand in 2020, lower values when compared with national averages. In this context, the peak was recorded in the province of Oristano, with a ratio of 13.9 per thousand.
(Unioneonline / ss)