Solitary lives of Europeans are leading continent into old age
Europe is facing a “demographic winter” as pensioners outnumber teenagers and birth rates fall, according to a report by the Institute for Family Policy.
The snapshot survey of family life in 27 European countries also says that marriages across Europe are breaking down at the rate of one every 30 seconds. Because of this, the average marriage across the continent lasts just 13 years, the paper states.
The study, entitled The Evolution of the Family in Europe 2008, and unveiled in the European Parliament in Brussels yesterday, describes the European birth rate as “critical”, with almost one million fewer babies born last year than in 1980. The total European Union population contained six million more over-65s than under-14s. In 1980, children outnumbered pensioners by 36 million. “Europe is undergoing a demographic winter, and now, Europe is an elderly continent”, says the report.
Read the article: The Independent, 8 May 2008
I...
