The European Commission has translated figures from the 8th Cohesion Report (see EUROPE 12887/2) into a ‘data story’. It is a cautionary tale about demographic trends that show a decline in some parts of the EU. It was shared on social networks by Cohesion Policy Commissioner Elisa Ferreira on Monday 9 January. She promises, by next week, “an initiative to assist EU regions in countering the double whammy of demographic decline and brain drain, as well as to help them retain, develop and attract talent”.
The Commission estimates that almost one in three people in the EU live in a region that has seen its population decline between 2010 and 2020. It warns that by 2040, half the population will be living in a demographically “shrinking region”.
Similarly, between 2010 and 2020, the population in rural areas slowly declined (-1.6 people per 1,000 inhabitants per year) while the population in urban areas increased (+4.5 people per 1,000 inhabitants per year).
However, the causes of demographic change are more likely to be natural. Indeed, as the “baby boomer” generation (born between 1945 and the mid-1960s) gets older, the population aged 65+ increases. On the contrary, the proportion of people aged 0 to 29 is 24% lower than that of the 30 to 59 age group. “This generation gap is the equivalent of 10% of the EU’s total population”, according to the Commission. Furthermore, it expects a 5% reduction in the number of young people (aged 0-19 years) in the EU over the next decade, with reductions of over 10% in many southern and eastern regions.
To read the analysis: https://aeur.eu/f/4tz (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)