The EC consults on healthy ageing and measures mitigating demographic change with a Green Paper taking a life cycle approach and considering all generations.
The demography of Europe’s population is changing; it is getting older and the share of the age group in the working force is decreasing. The European Commission’s Report on the Impact of Demographic Change from 17 June 2020 shows that the median age in Europe will increase to 49 by 2070 and that 30.3% of the population will be 65 and older (compared to 20.3% in 2019), with 13.2% being 80 and older (compared to 5.8% in 2019). While life expectancy increases, the share of Europe’s population in the world overall is shrinking. It will account for just 4% in 2070. This trend will have a severe impact on people’s lives and our society as a whole.
With a Green Paper on Healthy Ageing, presented on 27 January, the European Commission (EC) launches a broad consultation and policy debate in order to discuss options on how to respond to the challenges and opportunities ageing and the demographic changes will bring. The Green Paper looks at ageing taking a life cycle approach, which considers adaptations in all generations. It analyses the impact of changing demographics at the level of personal lives as well as the level of society, covers different policy areas and includes territorial aspects such as the differences between rural and urban environments.
In a first part, the Green Paper considers the formative years of people, which lay the foundations for healthy and active ageing as well as lifelong learning. Interventions at an early age can postpone or prevent the negative side effects of ageing, as better educated people tend to be in better health for longer and the first years of life are critical for developing social and cognitive skills. The paper closely links to education policy initiatives here such as the European Education Area or the Skills Agenda. A second focus is making the most of people’s working lives. In order to combat the relative shrinking work force due to the ageing of the population, one has to increase the employment rate of groups, for which it is generally low: women and older workers or migrants. While there are more women than men with a university degree in Europe now, they still tend to work part-time or drop out of the work force completely. The demographic change also offers chances to increase the productivity and innovation in the work force. The so-called ‘silver economy’ presents business opportunities in health technology, tourism and consumer products, which research and innovation can help to match.
With a growing population in retirement, the third stage covered by the Green Paper, new opportunities and challenges arise. Older people stay active and make valuable contributions to society, which often are not compensated. Pensions are substantially lower than salaries and old age poverty is an increasing issue. There is a need for more adequate pension schemes also considering, that women’s pensions in the EU are on average 27.9% lower than men’s due to lower salaries, shorter, less linear careers and more unpaid care responsibilities. A fourth and last part of the Green Paper is dedicated to meeting the needs of an ageing population in health and long-term care and mobility, connectivity and accessibility. While research and innovation will be able to address the technical demands of a growing number of people in long-term care, there is also the issue of an increasing need for care workers to be tackled. Mobility needs to become barrier-free in the physical and digital space. Last but not least, the response to an ageing population includes the commitment of young and older people, fostering intergenerational solidarity and responsibility with enabling policies.
The public consultation on the Green Paper remains open to contributions from individuals and stakeholder groups until 21 April 2021. The EC will then analyse contributions, hold events with social partners and decide on further actions to take. Several outcomes in different policy areas are possible, since the EC is already active in many of the areas touched. While the main competencies for health, educational and social policies touched remain with Member States, the EU can support their actions towards achieving a healthy ageing of Europe jointly.