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Italy's health minister has outlined plans to double child benefit to combat what she described as an "apocalyptic" decline in the country's birth rate. Just 488,00 babies were born in Italy in 2015, fewer than in any year since the modern state was founded in 1861. "If we carry on as we are and fail to reverse the trend, there will be fewer than 350,000 births a year in 10 years' time, 40% less than in 2010 - an apocalypse."
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36297177 [bbc.com]

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