CYPRUS’ rate of population growth is among the highest in the EU with a predicted increase of 41 per cent by 2060 according to the latest Eurostat Survey.
However Cyprus’ population of over 80 year olds is predicted to be among the lowest by then, at nine per cent.
As a whole, the EU population is set to rise to 525 million by 2035, peak at 526 million around 2040 and then gradually decline to 517 million by 2060, when (on average) one in eight people will be aged 80 or more.
The EU population is also projected to continue ageing, with the share of the population aged 65 years and over rising from 17 per cent in 2010 to 30 per cent in 2060.
Those aged 80 and over are predicted to rise from 5 per cent to 12 per cent over the same period.
And according to the report, there are projected to be considerable differences between the member states in the period, with the greatest population growth in Ireland (46 per cent), Luxembourg (45 per cent), Cyprus (41 per cent) and Britain (27 per cent).
Between 2010 and 2060, the population is projected to rise in 14 Member States and fall in 13.
In 2060, the Member States with the largest populations would be the United Kingdom (79 million), France (74 m), Germany (66 m), Italy (65 m) and Spain (52 m).
The EU27 population is expected to become older throughout the projection period, mostly because of low fertility and increased life spans.
This ageing process will occur in all Member States and by2060, the share of the population aged 65 or more is projected to range from 22 per cent in Ireland and 25 per cent Britain, Belgium and Denmark.
Comparing 2060 with the situation one hundred years before, in 1960, the share of those aged 65 or more is expected to increase between two and six times in the Member States for which data are available.
In 2060, the share of the population aged 80 or more is projected to be 12 per cent on average in the EU27, to range from 9 per cent in Ireland, Cyprus and the United Kingdom to 14 per cent in Spain, Italy and Germany.
Compared with the situation one hundred years before, in 1960, the share of those aged 80 or more is expected to grow between five and eighteen times by 2060 in the Member States for which data are available.
In consequence, the old age dependency ratio in the EU27, i.e. the population aged 65 years and older divided by the population aged 15 to 64, is projected to increase from 26 per cent in 2010 to 53 per cent in 2060.
In other words, there would be only two persons aged 15 to 64 for every person aged 65 or more in 2060, compared with four persons to one in 2010.
The old age dependency ratio is projected to be 60 per cent or more in Bulgaria, Germany, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, and 45 per cent or less in Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom.
source: Cyprus Mail
