An early childhood school, established centuries ago in Italy’s Aosta Valley, was forced to close its doors last fall due to a lack of youngsters.

The number of births reached a historic low of 393,000 in 2022. Now classrooms are thinning out across the country as the demographic shortfall makes its way up the age brackets, The Guardian reports.

“Italian schools are vanishing like the melting glaciers,” said Giovanni Vinciguerra, the director of Tuttoscuola. “Water is the source of life and schools are essential for society. The figures really are striking. This phenomenon started with the infant schools, and inevitably it will spread to primary and secondary schools.”

Since the 2008 financial crisis, the number of newborns has steadily declined (as of 2020, there were 1.24 children for every 1 Italian woman).

As it stands, Italy has one of the lowest fertility rates in the EU.

To compound the issue, the population is rapidly aging. For instance, the number of centenarians in Italy has tripled over the last 20 years to 22,000 — placing even more pressure on government finances.

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