“In 2080 Italians will drop to 45.8 million”. A2a launches a parenting plan: 3,250 euros per year and babysitter contribution

MILAN – 2023 was a black year for the birth rate and the prospects from this point of view are certainly not exciting. “Fertility is at an all-time low and in 2080 residents will drop to 45.8 million”, emerges from the report “The birth rate and the challenges of parenthood in Italy: the role of companies for a new model of sustainable welfare”, created by Bocconi University with the support of A2a. Today we are almost 59 million.

According to research, Italy is already among the states with the highest number of elderly people and in 2050 people over 65 will represent 34.5% of the total. The decline in the birth rate is the reflection of personal choices, but also the response to changes in cultural, economic and social conditions. “From a demographic point of view, the situation for Italy is dramatic. We are between winter and demographic ice age”, explained the CEO of A2a, Renato Mazzoncini.

Who in his company launches a new project precisely on these issues, “A2A Life Caring” to support the parenting of employees which envisages investments of 120 million euros by 2035. A broad program, explains a note, complete and transversal which testifies to the the Group’s concrete commitment to supporting the birth rate in a historical phase characterized by the country’s continuous demographic decline.

Among the concrete measures, “we have foreseen an annual contribution of up to 3,250 euros for the first 3 years of the child’s life”, underlines Mazzoncini. The agreement provides for all mothers an additional month of maternity leave paid at 100% and a month of 100% paid leave for all new fathers.

Furthermore, the group will contribute to the expenses incurred by employees for services relating to their children’s education – such as books, school fees, nursery schools, babysitters – differentiated by age group and up to the age of eighteen.

Mazzoncini himself did not shy away from commenting on the arrival of a new operator in his field, Fastweb. “He is one of the 800 operators who have entered the world of energy. They came in with an offer that doesn’t seem particularly competitive to me, therefore, we see them as one of many players.”