By 2024, there will be more people aged 65 and over than under-15s in Europe, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned on Wednesday, calling for better measures to ensure healthy old age.
"By 2024, it is estimated that the population of people over 65 will outnumber those under 15 in the WHO European Region," the WHO said in a statement. Europe's demographics are significantly more advanced than elsewhere. On a global scale it is not expected that such an age shift will be seen for another 60 years, according to projections by the Our World in Data institute.
The institute framed the trend within the broader picture of "social, economic and health challenges" seen across the continent. Whilst a longer life expectancy is synonymous with economic development, the WHO highlighted the distinction between old age and healthy ageing.
To mitigate the impact of an ageing population, the WHO is calling on national authorities to take measures to "enable older people to maintain and improve their physical and mental health, independence, social well-being and quality of life".
The recommended measures include a balanced diet and at least 150 minutes of physical activity a week. "Even more intense physical activity can reduce the risk of all-cause mortality by 35%", stressed the WHO.
The organisation's Europe regional advisor Dr Kremlin Wickramasinghe called attention to some of the common health challenges on the continent: notably, a less active and mostly sedentary life with a monotonous and even dull routine every day. To remedy this, he emphasised the need for "policy-makers, businesses and communities to create more opportunities and make better investments to make healthy choices easier, increasing healthy life expectancy.”
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Many national leaders and social scientists have pointed to Europe's ageing population as a major obstacle to economic prosperity: with fewer working citizens and more older people to care for national budgets will be strained.
To address the situation, some European countries are introducing advantageous policies to encourage their citizens to have children. In September, Hungary invited largely right-wing politicians and personalities to its Budapest Demographic Summit, during which its Prime Minister Victor Orbán stressed the need for family-friendly strategies to ensure that populations don't stagnate and contract.
In order to grow in population, a country's fertility must be 2.1 births per woman. Below this, a population will drop without net immigration making up the difference. Belgium's most recently recorded fertility rate was 1.60.
