US EditionAgeing populations a 'ticking time bomb' for GDP growth, says EBRD
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development says shrinking working-age populations in Emerging Europe will reduce GDP per capita growth by nearly 0.4 percentage points annually.
- On Tuesday, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development issued a semi‑annual report urging immediate action, warning demographic change is eroding living‑standards growth and will slow GDP in member countries.
- EBRD Chief Economist Beata Javorcik said birth rates fell due to social norm shifts and reduced women’s career earnings after childbirth, with birth incentives failing to create sustained change.
- In the average economy the leader is now 60 years old, which EBRD said is 19 years older than the median adult, and leaders tend to favour ring‑fencing pensions and restricting migration.
- Working longer would be the biggest lever, EBRD said, requiring retraining programs and pension reform, while migration remains politically unpalatable and citizens feel ambivalent about AI.
- The EBRD's newest member nations, including Nigeria, should focus on job growth and private‑sector expansion because `there is only a window of opportunity, these countries have to capitalise on this`, Beata Javorcik said.
16 Articles
16 Articles
Ageing populations a 'ticking time bomb' for GDP growth, says EBRD
Countries must act now to keep slowing population growth from wreaking havoc on their long-term economic prospects, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said in an annual report on Tuesday.
SUV crash at Jeju Island ferry terminal kills 3, injures 10
Eastern Europe is running out of boys. Rapid ageing has serious consequences for the growth region on the continent, warns the EBRD. The solutions to the problem are sometimes politically difficult to digest.
Aging populations a 'ticking time bomb' for GDP growth, says EBRD
Countries must act now to keep slowing population growth from wreaking havoc on their long-term economic prospects, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said in a semi-annual report on Tuesday. The report said ageing populations have already begun to hinder economic growth in some nations - and that in…
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