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Europe
Europe's plunging birth rate 'will lead to pensions crisis'
2007-07-15
Some people get an inkling about the limitations of living just for today's pleasure when they get a morning look at the person they took home from the pub the night before.

For the staff at the Independent, it comes as a result of realizing their wonderful government guaranteed pensions aren't quite as guaranteed as they thought.
Europe is getting old, and fast. Birth rates are falling below those necessary to replace older people as they die. The average birth rate in the European Union is down to 1.5 children per woman, and officials warn that unless it rises to 1.7, the EU will have difficulty financing its pension system.

Portugal's birth rate fell last year to the lowest level since records began in 1935. Poland, with one of Europe's lowest fertility rates, recently began a programme of tax breaks, longer maternity leave and better pre-school provision to encourage larger families. The Nordic model includes financial incentives and flexible working, and has seen the birth rate increase slightly in Norway and Sweden.

The population projection for the EU in 2050 is 450 million, almost 10 million fewer than in 2005. Before the end of the decade the proportion of people aged 60 or over will exceed the proportion of those under five. There are steadily fewer people of working age to support the elderly.

As well as promoting higher birth rates, other remedies being considered to cope with ageing societies are raising the retirement age to save on pensions and opening borders to migrant workers. Germany voted this year to increase the retirement age from 65 to 67 by 2012.
Posted by:lotp

#10  Europe's got it all worked out - radical Islamists will murder the aging retirees thus reducing the EU government's pension obligation. Also, reduces their carbon footprint. Next on the agenda - soylent green.
Posted by: DMFD   2007-07-15 22:37  

#9  Good Point TW But the chattering class desires to have the scare of the low savings rate to prop up the 'need' for government.

also, Social Security's payout is so low that unless you have an additional retirement supplement you WILL take a major hit in your standard of living.
Posted by: Abu do you love   2007-07-15 22:36  

#8  I'm forty-six, and I don't expect to see a penny from Social Security, nor does anyone I know. I look at it as a way to support the older generations in some small comfort, but I just hope we've saved enough out of Mr. Wife's salary and investments to keep me until I die at 120 (my mother's family tends toward long, long lives). Despite President Bush's proposed privatization scheme not passing, the increased availability of IRAs and 401-Ks has meant the de facto privatization of retirement funds since the 1980s. I know the numbers are floating around out there, but I don't believe the economists count those funds as savings. Were they to do so, Americans' savings rate would show a dramatic increase over the past two decades.
Posted by: trailing wife   2007-07-15 22:25  

#7  Yeah, Grumenk, Social Security is a Ponzi scheme or a "pyramid" scheme if you will. One reason I suspect Bush thinks it's "right for America" to give amnesty to 12 million illegal aliens from Mexico is so we can keep getting more people into the bottom of the pyramid to keep it from collapsing. I think a better solution would be if Congress would get over thinking that Social Security is some kind of sacred cow and phase it out. Of course, I still hope to get mine from it!
Posted by: Elmereter Hupash6222   2007-07-15 19:40  

#6  1. Social Security and similiar systems are an intergenerational wealth redistribution system (i.e. socialist Ponzi scheme)

2. Demography is destiny. With shrinking native populations the Euros are forced to fill the gap with immigrants, and not only are they poor at assimilating them but their traditional cultures were already deteriorating from the unrelenting assaults of the Left. Many of these nations will be alien and entirely unrecognizable within a few years.
Posted by: Grumenk Philalzabod0723   2007-07-15 14:13  

#5  Economicially you have to treat "social"ism as a debt. Signing cheques your own children will pay for in their future.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2007-07-15 11:21  

#4  Europe's plunging birth rate 'will lead to pensions crisis'reveal it's a ponzi scheme
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2007-07-15 11:19  

#3  No problem, in the name of greater Marxism socialism, they'll just make the younger generation tax slaves serfs. The bureaucrats just need to get efficient about getting that 20 percent unemployment down first. It's one thing to steal burden the productive income of those "can do" in the name of the children elderly civil servants common good, aka "it takes a village", but not a good idea while those layabout "won't do" are so numerous about them. Tends to upset the usually complicit serfs.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2007-07-15 08:54  

#2  Don't worry! Fecund Muslims will fill the gap. They're the only ones having children in Europe these days.
Of course, they might vote to discontinue pensions to infidels. But them's the breaks, ladies!
Posted by: gromky   2007-07-15 06:59  

#1  Undocumented citizens and the ignoring lifting of discriminatory, racist immigration policies are the key! When will Europe finally awaken.
Posted by: Besoeker   2007-07-15 03:26  

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