EC Green paper 2005: Confronting demographic change: a new solidarity between the generations (NEW UPDATE)
Europe is facing and undergoing great demographic changes. The natural population increased in Europe with a marginal 0.04% per annum, new Member States are faced with falling populations, immigration is in many countries vital to ensure population growth and the fertility rate is below the threshold needed to renew the population.
Besides this is the structure of the society also changing.
Family structures are changing; there are more ‘older workers’,
elderly people, fewer children and young adults of working age. The
bridges between the various stages of life are increasing and have
become more complex.
Three basis trends:
There are three basic trends in the demographic change of
Europe:
- Continuing increase in longevity;
- Continuing growth in the number of workers over 60;
- Continuing low birth rates.
Take action to tackle the demographic changes
European and national level public policies must take these
demographic changes into account. Several Member States have
already adopted these trends as a political priority. To compensate
for the predicted fall in the working age population, the Union
advocates greater employment participation, particularly by women
and older people, encourages investment in human resources and
higher productivity through economic reforms, research and
innovation.
This Green Paper (2005) points out the importance of demographic change, the challenges which Europe is facing and the possible interventions to combat these problems.
This Green Paper (2005) points out the importance of demographic change, the challenges which Europe is facing and the possible interventions to combat these problems.
26 Jan 2012
Reference material
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Green paper 2005 'Confronting demographic change: a new solidarity between the generations'
26 Jan 2012, pdf, 308KB