Europe needs to be more family-friendly, EU says

If Europe wants to fight the problem of ageing populations, it must introduce family-friendly policies that encourage people to have more children, the European Commission said in a report due out on Wednesday.

The European Union's executive has drafted proposals to revive Europe's stagnating economy, but even if growth starts picking up across the bloc, the EU could still face economic problems in the future unless demographic trends are reversed. "Ageing could cause potential annual growth in GNP (gross national product) in Europe to fall from 2 to 2.25 percent today to 1.25 percent in 2040, with all that entails for entrepreneurship and initiative in our societies," the Commission said in the report on demographic changes in Europe.

With the fertility rate declining, the working population of the 25-nation EU is set to fall by 20.8 million people between 2005 and 2030, it said.

"Europe is facing today unprecedented demographic change...The fertility rate everywhere is below the threshold needed to renew the population (around 2.1 children per woman) and has even fallen below 1.5 children per woman in many member states."

The Commission said Europe should provide more incentives to have children, such as childcare, leave for both parents and high family benefits.

Equal pay for men and women and ensuring women could have children without losing jobs or ruining careers would also encourage people to procreate, it said.

"If Europe is to reverse this decline (in fertility rates), families must be further encouraged by public policies that will allow women and men to reconcile family life and work," the report said.

EU Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Vladimir Spidla said some European states already have policies in place that could have a positive impact on the birth rate.

"France and Sweden have very targeted policies on family and emancipation - low taxes for families, high child allowances, swift re-entry of women into the labour market after maternity, unbureaucratic access to parental leave and a widespread network of high quality childcare facilities," Spidla told AMN Health.

"These policies are successful. But politics alone is not sufficient. They have to go hand in hand with a picture of society that does not denounce mothers who re-enter the labour market and does not declare fathers who take care of children as weird."