ROME: The national statistics agency Istat said Wednesday that Italy's population would continue to shrink in the coming decades, with the number of residents set to be down by about 4 million in 2050.Istat projected that the country's resident population will decrease from about 59 million in 2023 to 58.6 million in 2030, 54.8 million in 2050, and 46.1 million in 2080.It said about half of the Italian population would not be of working age in 2050.The ratio of individuals aged 15 to 64 with respect to those not of working age (under 14 and more than 64) will increase from about 3 to 2 in 2023 to about 1 to 1 in 2050, it said.The average age of the Italian population will be 50.8 in 2050, and southern Italy will age faster, with the average age there at 51.5, it said.Istat said increasing life expectancy and marital instability mean that the number of people living alone will grow by 15 percent in the next 20 years, increasing from 9.3million in 2023 to 10.7 million in 2043.It said households in w hich there is a couple with children, almost 3 out of 10 households (29.8 percent) today, could fall to less than a quarter of the total, 23 percent, in 2043.Source: Philippines News agency