Over the next 30 years, the population of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe, with the exception of Turkey, will decline significantly due to low birth rates and emigration.
This is stated in the new report of the International Monetary Fund.
According to experts of the Fund, these changes will have serious consequences for economic growth, living standards and financial stability.
In particular, the IMF predicts that despite the legislative increase in the retirement age in these countries, a decrease in the number of employees is expected.
According to the Fund, the labor force in Bulgaria, Latvia, Poland and Ukraine will decrease by more than a third by 2050.
And even in some of the milder cases (for example, Slovakia and Serbia), labor will decrease by 20% by 2050.
“The policy of attracting migrants has been used in some cases to address seasonal labor shortages. For example, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia have recently simplified procedures for foreign workers from certain non-EU countries (especially Ukraine). However, most countries in the east and south-east of Europe do not have long-term strategies for internal migration, according to the IMF,” – the report says.