Policy briefing December 2023 - International approaches to population ageing and decline

Almost all of the growth in the for Government 2021-2026; namely Welsh population will be among the to address any future funding over 65s, with the number of under-18s gaps, grow the Welsh tax base and predicted to start falling from the mid- consider the funding implications 2020s (Welsh Government, 2022a). [...] Childcare This evidence and the situation in Wales strongly suggest that there is scope The availability and affordability of for the Welsh and UK Governments to childcare is one of the key factors invest more heavily in ECEC as a way of determining how easy it is for women to making the prospect of having children combine family and work. [...] The Welsh Government may therefore wish to consider policies to reduce the Welsh population’s exposure to air pollution and “forever chemicals” as a way of protecting the long-term reproductive health of the population and ultimately as a way of tackling population decline. [...] Although immigration policy there is scope for Wales to attract more is a function of the UK government, the immigrants to the UK to settle in Wales, Welsh Government plays an important as well as immigrants from elsewhere in role in the delivery of immigration policy the UK. [...] Wales also has specific citizenship to international immigrants, pre-existing challenges, such as a low- are beyond the scope of what the productivity, low-growth and low-skill Welsh Government has power to do, economy compared to most other areas the vast majority of the interventions in the UK.