The impact of demographic change on European regions

Addressing the challenge of demographic change implies considering issues such as the capacity of European economies to generate full employment, the functioning of labour markets in a knowledge economy that requires lifelong learning and flexibility, the circulation of income between localities and regions and individual accumulation of capital. [...] identified in the European Commission’s Cities of Tomorrow report (European Commission, 2011); 9 - extra- and intra-European migration, as a source of opportunities to alleviate effects of above mentioned process and as a challenge in terms of short term costs, social and cultural integration and of coordination of policies at the European level. [...] 10 1.1.1 At the level of NUTS 2 and NUTS 3 regions The observation of demographic trends at the NUTS2 and NUTS3 levels between 2000 and 2014 reveals demographic decline across large parts of Central and Eastern Europe, and especially in the Baltic States, in Bulgaria and Romania, eastern German Länder, Slovakia and Croatia. [...] With the exception of central peripheral areas and Portugal, population growth is observed in large parts of western Europe, and more particularly in Ireland, the Mediterranean and western parts of Spain and western and south-eastern France and northern Italy, Belgium and southern Scandinavia. [...] In the 2014 -2020 programming period, the focus is on encouraging the “development of services and infrastructure leading to social inclusion and reversing trends of social and economic decline and depopulation of rural areas”7.