Falling birth rates and ageing population

Subject: Falling birth rates and ageing population

According to statistical surveys, almost one-fifth of the total population of the 27 Member States is over 65 years old. Low birth rates and higher life expectancy than previous generations mean a European Union with an increasingly ageing population.

According to experts, the EU working population is shrinking in percentage terms, while the proportion of pensioners is increasing. This means a heavier burden on people of working age resulting from the social costs of caring for an ageing population in the Member States.

In view of this:

Can the Commission say what action it is taking to tackle the problem of low birth rates and, consequently, an ageing population?

Answer given by Vice-President Šuica on behalf of the European Commission (19 January 2023)

The EU has no competence with respect to family law (it is the purview of the Member States). The Commission has a Vice-President in charge of demography, with the mission to lead the work on responding to challenges and making the most of the opportunities brought by demographic changes.

This includes looking at ways to support areas most affected by ‘brain drain’ and assessing whether social protection systems are fit to deal with the needs of an ageing population.

The Commission supports national measures promoting improved work-life balance policies and uses social and cohesion instruments and European funds to address demographic challenges.

In this context, in 2020-2021, the Commission adopted the report on the Impact of Demographic Change (1), the Green Paper on Ageing (2) and the Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas (3).

Countries with family-friendly employment policies, including paternal and parental leave, and widely available childcare have generally the smallest declines in birth rates and a high female employment rate (4).

The Work-Life Balance Directive (5) creates non-transferable and compensated rights to paternity and parental leaves, and flexible working time arrangements for working women and men. Member States had until August 2022 to transpose the directive.

The Union supports the application of the directive, including through the European Social Fund+. Across Member States and regions, adequate policy measures and cohesion policy investments can curb the uneven challenges turning them into opportunities for employers and residents.

The European Care Strategy (6) accompanied by two Council Recommendations (7) stresses the need to tackle the gender inequalities related to care, including by supporting women’s employment and closing the gender employment gap.

⋅1∙ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1593587638149&uri=CELEX%3A52020DC0241

⋅2∙ https://commission.europa.eu/system/files/2021-01/1_en_act_part1_v8_0.pdf

⋅3∙ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52021DC0345

⋅4∙ Eurostat live births and crude birth rate data , 18th International Review of Leave Policies and Related Research 2022,

https://www.leavenetwork.org/fileadmin/user_upload/k_leavenetwork/annual_reviews/2022/Koslowski_et_al_Leave_Policies_2022.pdf ⋅5∙ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32019L1158 ⋅6∙ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=COM%3A2022%3A440%3AFIN ⋅7∙ Council Recommendation on early childhood education and care: the Barcelona targets for 2030 ( https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-14785-2022-

INIT/en/pdf) and Council Recommendation on access to affordable high‐quality long‐term care (https://eur‐lex.europa.eu/legal‐

content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:C:2022:476:TOC).