MEPs want to preserve jobs for older people, and they want the member states to modify social policies accordingly. Europe is faced with population projections showing that the number of over-60s in Europe will increase by 50 per cent in the next 30 years. At the same time, the number of young people under 19 will fall by 11 per cent. Meanwhile, social security systems should be adjusted to accommodate those who care for the elderly, and the higher expenditure on health-care that follows on from an increasingly elderly population. However, on the bright side, Eurostat reports that the number of births across the EU increased slightly from 4,045,800 in 1996 to 4,061,500 in 1997.
While the overall figure shows a total increase of 0.9 per cent in the EU's population, Germany, Italy and Sweden for example saw a decrease. Ireland, on the other hand, recorded the highest growth figure of 5.8 per cent; the figure for the UK was 1.6 per cent.