There will be almost eight million fewer Italians of working age in 2050 than there are today, social and economic think tank CENSIS said in its 57th annual report on Italy Friday, Azernews reports, citing ANSA.

This scarcity of workers will have an inevitable impact on the productive system and Italy's ability to generate value.

Welfare spending is also a worry, set to rise from 131 billion euros today to 177 billion in 2050, the survey said.

In other findings, the survey said 74% of Italian are now in favour of euthanasia, and 87% of those in employment no longer felt work was central to their lives.

The report also said that some 36,000 Italian young people had left Italy for other countries in the last year alone, continuing an endemic brain drain.

In 2050, it added, Italy will have lost some 4.5 million residents, as if its two biggest cities, Rome and Milan, had disappeared.

This demographic decline will be the result of a 9.5 million fall in the number of under 65s and a 4.6 million rise in the number of over 65.

The report said that "the broadly predictable effects of certain economic and social processes seem to have been removed from the country's collective agenda, or in any case they are underestimated".