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How much does it cost to raise a child in Italy?

How big is the financial commitment parents have to make in Italy to pay for their offspring’s needs and expenses until they’re grown up and independent? Here's a look at the predicted costs.

How much does it cost to raise a child in Italy?
A man pushes a pram as he walks along the Foro Traiano Roman ruins in Rome. (Photo by Vincenzo PINTO / AFP)

Family is the bedrock of Italian society, but it’s also an unbalanced economic crutch, propping up children who leave home much later than most of their European counterparts.

Various factors are at play, from a declining birth rate, youth unemployment, being unable to get on the property ladder to young Italians moving abroad in search of better financial opportunities.

It probably comes as little shock, then, that parents in Italy end up forking out huge sums of cash to support their offspring through childhood and early adulthood (and beyond).

Even just up to the age of 18, raising a child in Italy can cost upwards of €320,000, according to data from Italian consumer research body ONF (Osservatorio Nazionale Federconsumatori).

The average spend of raising a child from 0-18 years is €175,642, but it rises in families with high incomes, classed as over €70,000 per year.

READ ALSO: Italian class sizes set to shrink as population falls further

Researchers noted that the cost of bringing up children has jumped up following the effects of the pandemic too: compared to 2018, child-rearing expenses increased by 1.2 percent by 2020.

The decrease in expenditure related to transport due to spending more time at home, as well as those incurred for sports and leisure activities, was not enough to mitigate the increase in costs for housing and utilities, which increased by 12 percent compared to 2018.

Photo by Suzanne Emily O’Connor on Unsplash

Food prices rose by 8 percent compared to 2018 and education and care jumped by 6 percent for the same timeframe.

In fact, Italy ranks as the third most expensive country in the world for raising children, only coming behind South Korea and China, according to data from investment bank JEF.

The pandemic has contributed to extending an already growing phenomenon: the decrease in annual income of Italian households.

Household income dropped by 2.8 percent from 2019 to 2020, the report found, citing data from national statistics agency Istat. It marks a further squeeze for families, especially low-income and single-parent families.

Depending on earnings, the amount needed to bring up a child until the age of 18 varies considerably.

READ ALSO: ‘Kids are adored here’: What being a parent in Italy is really like

A two-parent family with an annual income of €22,500 spends an average of €118,234.15 to bring up a child until the age of 18; for the same type of family but with an average income of €34,000 per year, the total expenditure to bring up a child increases to €175,642.72.

For high-income families, stated as over €70,000 annually, raising a child costs €321,617.36 on average.

The figures mark an increase of around €5,000 for low- and middle-income families, and a much sharper rise of €50,000 for high-income families, compared to ten years ago.

The money gets spent on housing, food, clothing, health, education and ‘other’ categories. The report revealed that the average spend on a child aged 16 years old is almost €11,500 annually, amounting to €955.78 per month.

Almost €2,000 per year gets spent on food, €1,615 goes on transport and communication, €782 goes on clothing and €1,600 goes on education annually, the report found.

They begin small, yet the costs are anything but. (Photo by LOIC VENANCE / AFP)

For the ONF, “these data highlight how, today more than ever, having a child is becoming a luxury reserved for the few, which fewer and fewer Italians are able to afford.”

READ ALSO:

The numbers on supporting children after their 18th birthday are a little hazier, as when children eventually fly the nest varies – but figures from Eurostat show that Italy ranks third in Europe for the average oldest age at which children move out of the parental home, at 30.2 years old.

Only young people from Croatia and Slovakia wait longer to live independently, while the EU average for flying the nest is 26.4 years old.

Even then after eventually leaving home at over 30 years old, it’s not entirely clear how many Italians are fully independent once they get their own address, or whether their parents continue to bankroll their living costs.

Italy’s president Sergio Mattarella sent a message to Italy’s Birth Foundation (Fondazione per la Natalità) in May stating, “The demographic structure of the country suffers from serious imbalances that significantly affect the development of our society.”

In response to worsening economic circumstances, the Italian government has recently pledged to do more to help people have families and reverse Italy’s continuing declining birth rate.

It has introduced the Single Universal Allowance (L’assegno unico e universale), but along with it has dropped various so-called ‘baby bonuses’ that provided lump sums to new parents.

The new allowance is a monthly means-tested benefit for those who have children, or are about to have a child. It is payable from the seventh month of pregnancy until the child reaches the age of 18 or in some cases, 21. For more information on what it is and how to claim it, see here.

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FAMILY

Why you shouldn’t take your husband’s surname in Italy

The custom of women taking their husbands' surnames after marriage doesn't exist in Italy. But if you're considering taking your spouse's last name, here are four reasons why you should think twice.

Why you shouldn't take your husband's surname in Italy

For some foreign couples, the prospect of a wife taking their husband’s surname may be a given. In Italy, however, it is not. 

It is very common to see grandmothers with different surnames from their grandchildren and mothers with different surnames from their children. If you take three generations of women in an Italian family (grandmother, mother, and daughter), all of them will in most cases have different surnames. 

There is a reason behind this: Italian law. Much like the Netherlands, Italy does not permit a wife in a married couple to legally change her surname to that of her husband (this can only happen in a number of special circumstances, outlined below). 

As a result of this, women in Italy are only able to use their husband’s surname in social contexts. For the most part, they cannot use their husband’s surname in official settings and must sign off on paperwork using their maiden names.

Let’s take a look at some reasons why you shouldn’t take your husband’s surname in Italy.

You have to be an Italian citizen 

If you weren’t an Italian citizen before marrying your Italian spouse, you will have to wait until you get your Italian citizenship to apply for a name change. If being married is the only way for you to obtain Italian citizenship, you’ll have to wait two years before you’re able to apply if you reside in Italy and three years if you both live elsewhere. The waiting period halves if you have a child. 

If you’re able to change your name to your husband’s in the country where you are a citizen, that could be one way of getting around the issue. However, it would be a nightmare at passport control and may cause issues with Italian bureaucracy further down the line.

Lots of red tape

This brings us to our second point: bureaucracy.

Italian bureaucracy is daunting when you first apply for documents such as your fiscal code or permit of stay. If by chance you are one of the lucky few who manages to get permission for a surname change, you will have to change your name on all of those documents. It will not happen automatically.

Wedding rings, Italy

Wedding rings are pictured during a ceremony. Photo by Miguel Medina / AFP

It’s also worth noting that a surname change under the law means the replacement of your maiden name and any double-barrelled name you wish to use.

READ MORE: How do you change your surname in Italy after getting married? 

Before you reach the acceptance stage for a name change, you must submit a lengthy list of documents by requesting a name change to the Ministry of the Interior through the prefecture (prefettura) covering the area you reside in.

Even after completing all of the relevant paperwork, your application may be rejected if it doesn’t fall into one of the special circumstances below.

Strict special circumstances

Wanting your husband’s surname is not a good enough reason for a name change; there has to be a more suitable one under Italian law. The special circumstances outlined by Italy’s interior ministry include:

  • Addition of the surname to avoid its extinction – in this case your spouse must attach a family tree to the request.
  • Change of surname after getting Italian citizenship – this can only be done after you have taken the oath. As mentioned above, women who want to change their names must have a marriage certificate.

Even if one of these two special circumstances applies, there is no currently available statistical data showing how many applications are ultimately accepted.

Divorce might change your name again

Under Article 5 of Law 898, a woman loses her husband’s surname in the event of a divorce. However, the woman may request to keep it if it is in the interest of her or her children’s protection. 

Divorce is definitely not the first thing newlyweds think of when getting hitched, but this is an important downside to remember. And to add to injury, you’ll have to change all of your documents again.

Is there a way around this?

In a strict sense, no. Having a complete name change is a thorough procedure. 

However, there is a little piece of law which allows female spouses to add their spouse’s name to their maiden name. Italy’s Civil Code outlines: “The wife shall add her husband’s surname to her own and retain it during her widowhood until she remarries.”

What this means is that you can add the preposition ‘in’ after your maiden name. It is not the same as a double-barrelled name. It means you have married into that family and it’s not a name change as much as it is an addition. 

Other than that, you can use your husband’s name socially but not officially.

Have you changed your maiden name after marriage in Italy? Let us know about it in the comments below.

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