By Monika Kiss, Mar Negreiro, Maria Niestadt, Carolien Nijenhuis and Christiaan Van Lierop and Anneke Van der Linde.
The latest demographic data show that existing demographic tendencies, such as increasing median age, declining fertility rates and a shrinking working age population, continue to prevail. However, it is also becoming clear that the influence of the pandemic in 2021 was more significant than during the previous year – for instance, 'excess mortality' increased even further, while life expectancy decreased in many Member States. The pandemic also accelerated another phenomenon, present in our lives in recent decades: the digital transition. Social distancing measures favoured automation and digitisation, an increased use of e-government, and led to higher rates of remote working. Parallel to this, new problems and challenges appeared, touching diverse demographic groups in different ways and to differing degrees. Digital fraud, cyber-threats, digital dependency and a deepening digital divide pose more and more challenges for citizens and the EU.