Population ageing weighs on crisis-hit Italy

ROME?- Over half of Italy's overall retirees struggle to make a living amid the current economic crisis in a country whose population is growing old, local reports said on Tuesday.

According to the national pension agency INPS, around 7.2 million retirees receive monthly pensions of less than 1,000 euros ($1,280) while 35 percent get between 500 and 1,000 euros, and 17 percent receive less than 500 euros.

The average monthly pension in Italy was 1,131 euros, while just 2.9 percent of retirees receive more than 3,000 euros per month, INPS said.

Meanwhile, according to national statistics agency Istat, the Italian population continues to age. Last year, a total of 546,607 births were recorded in the country, about 15,000 fewer than in 2010, confirming the downward trend that began in 2009.

Italian families are struggling amid recession deepened by a series of tax hikes and welfare cuts carried out by Prime Minister Mario Monti's emergency government to tackle the country's massive debt crisis.

According to a study by business association Confesercenti, this year the average household's tax bill in Italy will be 1,450 euros ($1,858) higher than it was in 2011.

The study said the recent austerity measures and other budget reforms have taken the Italian overall tax burden up to 44.7 percent, 5 percent higher than the European average.

As a result of the crisis and dented spending power, in 2012, the number of Italian households who say they cannot afford a meat or fish dish more than every two days rose to 12.3 percent from 6.7 percent last year, according to a survey conducted by Istat.

Italians who cannot afford to adequately heat the house increased to 17.9 percent from 11.2 percent among the surveyed, while those who cannot afford a yearly week's holiday rose to 46.5 percent from 39.8 percent.

On Monday, President Giorgio Napolitano said Italy must tackle its public debt, which is around 126 percent to its gross domestic product (GDP), by reducing spending rather than increasing taxes.

"It is a weight we need to get rid of with austerity policies that aim to reduce spending more than with policies that will only worsen the tax burden," he said.