And the world’s oldest first-time fathers are…

Italian men become fathers at a later age than any other nationality, and do little or nothing to help their wives once their babies are born, statistics office Istat said Thursday.

Italian men have their first child at an average age of 33, compared with younger than 31 for fathers in Spain, France and Finland, Istat said.

Part of the problem is that many Italian men live with their parents for longer than elsewhere in the world, with 40 percent of 30-34 year-old Italian males still staying at home.

When they eventually become fathers, Italian women need not expect much help around the house, Istat said, adding that Italian men’s dedication to domestic duties was “non-existent or unsatisfying.”

Istat said men who married at the age of 35 were 80 percent less likely to want a child than those who married at 25, while women were only likely not to want children if they were older than their husbands.

By contrast with the men, Italian women have their first child at an average age of 27, six months before their Finnish counterparts.

Thursday’s statistics will do little to reassure the Italian government that is worried by a demographic time bomb, with Italians rapidly aging and many couples deciding to only have one child or none at all.

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