Population decline
Population decline is a major problem in Aliano and other similarly sized towns in the poor regions of southern Italy. Lack of employment opportunities, lack of fertile land (if people wish to take up agriculture) and a decrease in interest in continuing the farm life of one's parents are major reasons for population loss. A higher percentage of young people from the South of Italy complete a university education than their peers in the north due to the unemployment situation. Professional jobs are few in southern Italian cities, thus considerable numbers of the villages' most promising young people move their families to the big industrial cities of the North, especially Milan and Bologna.