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A 2016 study by Italy's Ministry of Environment found 5,627 towns across the country had fewer than 5,000 residents, noted as “perilously depopulated.” Due to dwindling populations, just under half of those towns were at risk of not being able to survive the next 25 years. The pandemic exacerbated the problem, shrinking Italy’s entire population by 384,000 in 2021 – the highest amount in nearly a century, according to a 2021 report by the Pulitzer Center.