GREEN PAPER ON AGEING - Fostering solidarity and responsibility between generations
The European Commission presented a green paper to launch a broad policy debate on the challenges and opportunities of Europe's ageing society. It sets out the impact of this pronounced demographic trend across our economy and society.
The green paper frames the debate on ageing by setting out the speed and scale of the demographic changes in our society, as well as the impact this has across our policies and the questions we need to ask ourselves in response. This covers everything from promoting healthy lifestyles and lifelong learning to strengthening health and care systems to cater for an older population. It underlines the need to bring more people into the workforce, highlights the opportunities for job creation and looks at the impact of ageing on our careers, wellbeing, pensions, social protection and productivity.
The Green Paper takes a life-cycle approach, reflecting the universal impact of ageing on all generations and stages in life. In doing so, it highlights the importance of striking the right balance between sustainable solutions for our welfare systems, and strengthening intergenerational solidarity.
Background
This Commission has put demography high on the EU policy agenda. The Commission's June 2020 report on the impact of demographic change showed that in the last 50 years, life expectancy at birth has increased by about 10 years for both men and women. The Green Paper on Ageing is the first outcome of this report and launches a debate on the main issues related to ageing in Europe and will be followed by the long-term vision for rural areas that will also look into the question of depopulation.