INTRODUCTION
Higher life expectancy and lower fertility rates have been the driving forces behind a secular trend towards population ageing. Although this trend is not new, it is set to further intensify because of the post-war baby boom which constitutes to a unique variation in the age structure over the last five decades between 1945 and 1961 amongst the European Countries. Nevertheless, the baby boom assisted in identifying the roles for both Social and Economic growth towards these countries and also its demography.
Demographic ageing raises important challenges for all those institutions and policies established in the middle of the last century when the demographic perspective was very different. Policy makers and politicians have tended to underestimate the cumulative impact of these demographic trends. However, there is an increasing awareness as Europe approaches the critical decades, where the bulk of the ageing baby boomers will start moving out of the labour market, this trend is important and irreversible within the foreseeable future. Family-friendly policy measures could still provide some attenuation effects in the long run, but even in the most family-friendly EU countries, fertility rates are currently too low to prevent population ageing.
EUROPE COUNTRIES AND DEMOGRAPHY
Today, there is a growing awareness in the EU that there are at least two major policy issues in relation to population ageing. These are the ageing of the workforce and the risk of growing imbalances in the financing of the social protection. These issues remain manageable for all member- States for some more years depending on the national situations. Then the trends accelerate in pace and raise serious questions about the capacity of the existing institut ...