Porto Torres, the 13th largest municipality on the island, continues to decline . And the trend is worsening. In just one year, it lost 235 residents. In 2025, the northwestern port city will have a population of 20,589, compared to 20,824 in 2024 (21,068 in 2023). In 2020, there were still 21,688 residents, a decline in 2021, when the population was 21,517, and 21,269 in 2022.
Over the past six years, the municipality has experienced a significant population decline, decreasing by nearly 1,100 inhabitants . This negative natural population balance is expressed in its dramatic decline in births: just 89 girls and boys were born last year, compared to a steadily rising death toll of 255 in 2025, representing 166 deaths in excess of births. The decline is likely to be more pronounced in the coming years, as it is difficult to imagine a surge in births compared to deaths.
It is essential that local policies address the causes of demographic decline, promoting economic development, creating opportunities for young people, and enhancing cultural and environmental heritage. The analysis requires a reflection on the birth rate, a declining phenomenon throughout Sardinia, but one that reflects a significant trend in the urban context of Porto Torres. From 2012 to 2019, 1,275 children were born in eight years, compared to only 596 from 2020 to 2025. Fewer births, fewer young people, and an increasingly high number of elderly people, with eight centenarians and centenarians born between January 1919 and December 31, 1926.
A curious aspect is the choices made by parents who indulge in giving their heirs original female names like Maira or Etna, bizarre male names like Aisosa, or foreign ones like Wealth, Niala, or Saly, so much so that they recall the world of fantasy.
But among the most popular female names, the classic Ludovica (3) remains the most popular, while for males, Mattia (6) is in first place, followed by Edoardo (5).