by InTrieste
Friuli Venezia Giulia had about 1.2 million residents in 1921, roughly the same number recorded in 2024. But the region in northeastern Italy has changed substantially over the past century, with an aging population, fewer births and a longer life expectancy, according to data from Italy’s national statistics institute, Istat.
For decades, migration helped maintain the region’s demographic balance. Until the 1960s, births outnumbered deaths, offsetting the departure of residents seeking opportunities abroad. By the mid-1970s, however, deaths had begun to exceed births, nearly 20 years before the same shift occurred in Italy as a whole.
Since then, immigration has helped limit population decline, but it has not reversed the broader trend toward an older population.
In 2024, Friuli Venezia Giulia had 253 people over the age of 65 for every 100 children under 15, compared with a national average of 208, according to Istat. Low birthrates and rising life expectancy have contributed to the imbalance. In 2025, life expectancy at birth in the region reached 84 years and one month, exceeding the national average.
The region’s economy has also undergone a significant transformation. In 1921, more than half of its employed residents worked in agriculture. Industry expanded over subsequent decades, accounting for more than 40 percent of employment in the 1970s.
Today, services dominate the labor market, employing nearly seven in 10 workers. Industry nevertheless remains more prominent than in Italy as a whole, accounting for 28 percent of employment. Trieste stands apart, with a greater concentration of jobs in the service sector.
Educational indicators point to another area of relative strength. The proportion of residents with a high school diploma is above the national average, while the share of university graduates is broadly in line with the rest of Italy.
Together, the figures describe a region that has maintained a relatively stable population over a century while moving from an agricultural economy toward industry and services. Its central demographic challenge is increasingly how to adapt to a population in which older residents make up a growing share of the total.
