The number of people aged over 100 in Italy hit a record high last year, the national statistics office said on Friday, as the average age of the population grows at a faster pace than its European Union peers. In its annual report, ISTAT said the share of the population aged over 100 had tripled since the beginning of the century and totalled almost 22,000 people as of January this year, most of them women.

At the other end of the age range, the figures showed births declined to a historic low of 393,000 in 2022, the lowest since Italian unification more than 150 years ago. The country's population has steadily spiralled down since 2014, and supporting and caring for growing numbers of elderly people is one of the most pressing challenges that Italy faces.