Analysis: New Member States and the dependent elderly

This ENEPRI Research Report by Corinne Mette shows that elderly dependency is not yet a problem for the new member states, but is likely to be in the future.

The 10 new member states that joined the European Union in 2004 have increased the population of the EU-15 by 20% and together account for almost 16.4% of the total EU-25 population. The ageing of the population in the EU-15 has highlighted other challenges besides the well-known problems of financing pension and healthcare systems. It has also highlighted the risk of a rise in the dependent elderly population and the need to adjust social welfare systems accordingly. This study shows that while the new member states do not yet appear to be facing the problem of elderly dependency on the same scale as the EU-15 countries, in the coming decades it is likely they will have to contend with it to a much greater degree.