ISTAT said births were down again, dropping from 486,000 in 2015 to 474,000 last year.
There were 608,000 deaths, down from the 2015 total of 648,000.
The net difference between births and deaths in 2016 was -134,000, making it the second biggest difference ever after the figure of -162,000 registered in 2015.
Last year saw the continuation of an aging Italian population, ISTAT said.
The average age of a resident in Italy on January 1, 2017 was 44.9, showing an increase of two and a half months in comparison to the previous year. The average age of an Italian resident is now two years higher than it was in 2007. ISTAT said there were 13.5 million people or 22.4% of the population aged 65 or over, compared to 11.7 million or 20.1% in 2007.
The number of people over 90 was up to 727,000, compared to 402,000 15 years ago. There were 17,000 centenarians, slightly down from 19,000 in 2015, but three times higher than in 2002.
ISTAT said that 115,000 Italians moved abroad in 2016, up 12.6% on 2015. This figure is almost three times more than in 2010, when there were 40,000 emigrants.
With ANSA
