He encouraged policy makers in the member states to implement the measures proposed in the Social Investment Package, recently adopted by the Commission. Even though governments are seeking to consolidate their budgets, they should bear in mind that “the 14 million young people who are neither in employment, nor in education or training are estimated to cost the equivalent of 1.21% of EU GDP. That is an annual loss of €153 billion to the Member States.”

In terms of demographic developments, the Commissioner emphasized the importance of youth- and gender policies in order to mitigate the effects of an ageing population and shrinking workforce in Europe.

However this development is mainly due to the decrease of the number of women in childbearing age. According to the author, the changes in this group are responsible for about 62% of the decrease in the number of live births and the decline of the TFR that occurred after 2008 has amplified this effect. Especially in some Eastern European Countries fertility rates returned to levels below 1.3 live births per women which are often labeled as “lowest low”.

The report shows that changes in fertility partially follow changes in the economy, with an average lag of less than two years. The fertility of women with medium education has decreased more visibly than of those with low or high education and first births seem to be slightly more affected than subsequent births.