Latin European Ageing Population

The issue of an ageing population is omnipresent in the demography of the world right now. In Japan there is a worryingly old population, fueled by superb health care and low fertility rates of 1.3 children per woman the country faces some of the worst population induced economic turmoil ever witnessed as a result of this. In this article I will be examining the ageing populations of latin europe, namely Spain and France, with a greater focus given to Italy.

In Italy around two-thirds of the population are economically active adults, but the elderly population outnumbers the 0-15 age range by about four million. This, along with contiunously dropping birth rates, could well lead to a future problem where, like in Japan, the working population cannot feesibly support its elderly dependants. The diagram to the left of this text demonstrates the current situation. Clearly, some kind of initiative much be introduced to try and boost the birth rate, perhaps they could use some of the methods used in France in the late 20th century. Italy currently faces the shocking situation where they must either increase the retirement age to 77 years of age (a massive increase compared to what has recently been seen in France and the UK) or accept two million foreign immigrants of working age a year to support the aged.

The whole issue in Italy has been caused by the reluctance of Italian women to become mothers: 25% of all Italian women have no children, while a further 25% only have one child. This had lead to a fertility rate of 1.41 children per woman, about 0.7 children per woman beneath the replacement rate. The city of Genoa is the most rapidly ageing city in the whole of Europe, with an individual natural decrease of 6 per 1000 per year, far worse than most other developed nations.

The French have a similar problem, with an ageing population, but fortunately for them they do not have it to the same magnitude as they do in Italy. Yet compared to Italy, the French government has been far more pro-active in sorting out the problem than its Italian colleague, when they noted the risk of a decline in future fertility rates the government introduced incentives like financial support for families with a second child, banning of some contraceptive devices and reducing the availability of abortions, which were the main ones, however they also introduced some smaller scale concepts like 'medals for super-mums' to really try and boost the birth rate.

In Spain the population problem has only just arrived, in 1970 the fertility rate was just under three children per woman, the 2nd highest in Europe, but now it has fallen to about 1.4 children per women, the sceond lowest in Europe. The scare also for Spain, is that by 2050 if the problem goes unchallenged half the population will be over the aged of 55, giving Spain the oldest median population in the world. Spain has not really made great leaps to counter their population problem, but the population seems to have done it itself, as since 1990 the birth rate has risen every year, lessening the issue slightly.

In all, the European ageing population problem will not just go away, but in these Southern countries, simple measures can have success, as has been seen in France, where they have made headway along the road to recovery. Perhaps Italy, the worst afflicted of these nations, should take a leaf out of France's book and really try to tackle the issue.