Abstract
Despite its seriousness, demographic change still does not hold the place it deserves in the popular consciousness. In fact, it has become a silent yet persistent companion in developed societies, affecting the social, economic and political spheres of life.
The reasons for demographic change vary across the world. But its effects are similar, which is why it requires an integrated approach.
The European Union has made considerable progress in the last decades and now faces an ageing population. The causes of this are a lower birth rate, longer life expectancy and the ageing of the baby boomers. At the same time, people, who have not yet ‘succumbed’ to the causes of the lower birth rate are entering the EU from other parts of the world. While offering some solutions, immigration also opens up new problems. Since, for economic reasons, it is inevitably bound to continue in the future, a well-coordinated EU immigration policy is a must. That, however, is another topic.
Nearly all EU Member States face similar demographic trends. In Slovenia, the 1980-2004 period saw a rapid decrease in youth population and an increasing number of elderly. Only in the past three years have we been able to slow down the decline in the birth rate. The year 2007 saw the largest number of births in the past 15 years, while 2008 is forecast to top this growth by 15-20%.
Responses to demographic change have often met with disapproval, in particular the pension reforms which lengthened the active employment period. Since 2000, the active employment period in Slovenia has been gradually extended every year; these are gradual, minor adjustments which have significant effects on the pension fund. Slovenia first tackled demographic change more seriously at the beginning of the 1990s. In 1997 the first Strategy for Care of the Elderly was prepared, mainly to alleviate any negative effects. This document encouraged services and programmes enabling the elderly to remain in their home environment for as long as possible.
The year 2006 commenced with the new Strategy of Care for the Elderly until 2010–- Solidarity, Living Together and Quality Ageing of the Population. This considers demographic change and its effects in a broader sense, as it does not focus solely on consequences and pertains to all age groups. The Strategy thus covers the following fields: work and employment, pension and disability insurance, social security, family, health care, education, culture, science, housing and spatial planning policies and transport and personal safety. An important component of the Strategy is a proposal that concrete action plans for its implementation be drawn up by the competent ministries. The Council for Solidarity between Generations and Quality Ageing of the Population has been established, bringing together representatives of the government, programme managers and members of civil society. The Council's main task is the implementation of the Strategy up to 2010 and maintaining a continuous and coordinated policy in this field. One of the Council's goals is to consider the challenges arising from demographic trends when creating individual policies.
The basis of formulating the said Strategy was the Green Paper Confronting Demographic Change: A New Solidarity between the Generations, which was adopted by the Council of the EU in 2005. One of the document's main findings is that Europe is facing unprecedented demographic change. The paper opened and encouraged debate on possible routes to the harmonious development and preservation of the European population, which is today under threat as a result of Europe's lower birth rate, the difficulties of young people entering the labour market, the early exclusion of the middle-aged and elderly from the labour market and the rapid growth in the number of pensioners.
The political sphere has come to recognise that longer life expectancy reflects social progress; however, society does not seem to be aware of this at the everyday level. While, for example, there are many shops specialising in baby merchandise, there are no stores that target the elderly, even though there are many more of them. The design industry often neglects the needs of the older generation. It is also often the case that employers see older employees mainly for their age-related problems, instead of realising the advantages brought by years of experience. Many people remain active in later life–-not only because of effective medicine, but also due to technological progress that has resulted in machines performing hard physical labour, which means there are fewer jobs the elderly cannot do. The experience of older employees can be invaluable.
Slovenia, together with Germany and Portugal, has included the issue of demographic change among the priorities of the 18-month Trio EU Presidency programme. A conference on Intergenerational Solidarity for Cohesive and Sustainable Societies was organised, and focused on the coexistence and solidarity between generations which are essential for the EU's future. In this connection, the Slovenian Presidency of the EU put forward a proposal to declare 2012 the European Year of Active Ageing and Intergenerational Solidarity.
Fast-paced technological progress and different ways of life have significantly influenced the primary social unit, that is, the family. At one time, families consisted of several generations, whereas, today, there is an increasing number of single-generation families and less contact between generations. This has resulted in the elderly feeling cut off from the middle-aged and the young, while experience, once passed on from generation to generation, is not being put to use. A systematic approach should offer solutions providing synergy between generations with an emphasis on the added value of intergenerational cooperation, while enabling the balanced development of individual generations.
There are no magic recipes. All Member States are facing a similar dilemma: How to act? Cooperation and partnerships within the EU have offered different concepts and solutions, some of which will evolve over time into good practices which Member States will share and which will gradually provide answers to the challenges posed by population ageing.
The issue of an active family policy is also linked to population ageing: enabling young people's entry into the labour market, resolving housing problems, providing better jobs in accordance with the goals of the Lisbon Strategy, making available nurseries and preschool and ensuring parental protection are all significantly shaping the demographic trend.
In this area Slovenia has taken a major step forward. New and more effective measures aimed at increasing the birth rate have produced results, and natality has increased. Some measures that have been introduced (100% compensation for parental leave, free kindergarten for second and additional children and the right to work part-time) have created a better environment for family creation. Companies are encouraged to provide work environments that support families. Therefore, within the framework of the EQUAL programme the Family Friendly Employment initiative has been launched, which seeks to encourage employers by means of different benefits and incentives to create better conditions for employing (potential) parents. Another project aim is to convince employers to employ more young parents.
The influence of the ageing society on reducing the available workforce and increasing public expenditure will have to be levelled out with systematic and coordinated measures in the areas of population and employment policy and the budget. Special attention needs to be paid to policies in the area of supplementary pension insurance, with protection of capital. Immigration cannot be avoided, and measures aimed at increasing the birth rate are essential. Providing better material conditions, housing and employment opportunities for young families and the young in general are very important priorities, but not sufficient. For real change we must change our approach, our philosophy, our attitude to life, and move beyond a materialistic view of problems. The EU plays an important role here. If the young see it as a good, spacious, safe place to live and work, they will more easily decide to start families. I am personally convinced that, particularly in the new Member States, a time of change is coming after two decades of a spiritual void and the pursuit of material gain–-a time bringing a greater emphasis on values and the quality of life in all of its dimensions, including the cultural and spiritual.
Footnotes