Population Europe

30/04/2012
From baby boom to grandparent boom

The populations of all European countries are ageing but with substantial differences in magnitude, speed and timing. Building upon Eurostat projections from 2010 Giampaolo Lanzieri, head of Eurostat’s Section Demography, Census and Projections, elucidates cross-country differences within Europe. The author concludes that while some Nordic and Western European countries may have already experienced the climax of the ageing process, others, mainly situated in Southern and Eastern Europe, may soon need to deal with the consequences of the rapidly increasing proportion of older people.
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18/04/2012
Better late than never

Declining fertility rates have been at the centre of discussions in every developed country for a while now. Even though some European countries do not suffer from fertility rates below the replacement level, the trend towards late motherhood seems to be invariable. Due to this trend of postponing motherhood, significant proportions of women all over Europe have only one child or even remain childless. Massimiliano Bratti and Konstantinos Tatsiramos evaluate the effects of delayed motherhood in European countries and establish a connection between the trend of becoming a mother late in life and the possibility of having a second child.
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11/04/2012
Between having it all and having enough

Reconciling work and family is a daily challenge for most Europeans. In the future it might become even more difficult, as shrinking populations will require everybody to work more. In her recent study, Katarina Boye explores the connections between wellbeing, paid work and household duties, and compares the impact that different family policies have on this triangle. The results suggest that work-family conflicts are the big issue yet to be resolved.
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22/03/2012
Underestimating lifespans

The measurement of human longevity is one of the most important topics in demography. This includes not only how long people live, but also how long they expect to live. To underestimate your lifespan could cause risks in individual retirement planning. A realistic view of life expectancy may also contribute to the acceptability of policies that attempt to increase the pension age. However, there have been only a few representative studies on how long people expect to live. Researcher Alison O’Connell reviews the available evidence.
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07/03/2012
Educating Women

The growth of the world population is associated with many challenges in terms of nutrition, health, energy supply and climate effects. But projections on the future global population differ greatly: Will there be nine or ten billion people in 40 years? In four scenarios Wolfgang Lutz and Samir KC show how education can play an important role in slowing down population increase in developing countries.
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01/03/2012
Why Europe won’t become extinct

Many believe that migration has had a limited impact on population trends in Europe so far. But Chris Wilson and his co-authors demonstrate that, for many countries, migration is already a key factor that has prevented population decline in low fertility countries.
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07/02/2012
Better tools to deal with longevity

Europe’s population is getting older and older and this process is accompanied by many economic and social changes. The necessity of modifying pension systems and increasing the pension age are among the most discussed of these changes at the moment. Britain's the Netherlands’, Germany’s, Denmark’s and Spain’s national pension age will increase to 67. Ireland's pension age will even rise to 68. But how can policy makers justify to public those increases in pension age? How will they know how many of the “last years” are likely to spend in good health?
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07/02/2012
Tackling Europe’s Health Divide

Some European countries, mainly among the new EU member states, have significantly higher mortality rates than others. This gap between ‘old’ and ‘new’ member states is even wider when deaths before the age of 65 are considered. A study by Luc Bonneux, Corina Huisman and Joop de Beer from the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI) explores the drivers of Europe’s health divide and evaluates the potential for prevention and improved health in the European Union.
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23/01/2012
Money isn’t everything

Though it may not be a silver bullet to solve workforce shortages, the migration of highly-skilled individuals around the world is recognised as an important driver of productivity gains, innovation, and entrepreneurship. This motivates governments of EU member states, including the Netherlands, to consider policy changes in order to help attract “knowledge migrants”. In a recent study, Anu Kõu, Leo van Wissen and Ajay Bailey evaluate what drives highly-educated professionals to migrate to the Netherlands. Their results indicate that so-called “knowledge migration” depends on more than just attractive jobs.
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20/01/2012
Scrapheap or Indian Summer

Accelerating workforce aging raises concern about whether our economies’ future capacity to innovate is endangered. A recent review of the literature and of previous studies by Katharina Frosch on the interplay between workforce age and innovation sheds light on some “do’s and don’ts” for scientists and practitioners when assessing age effects in innovation.
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