According to a report published by the European Commission, the population of the EU is projected to reach 517 million in 2060. The report underlines that this issue will have economic consequences, such as for example that the total number of workers is projected to decline by 15.7 million over the forecast horizon to 195.6 million in 2060. In general, the extent and speed of ageing depend on future life expectancy, fertility and migration. Life expectancy at birth is projected to increase according to the report.

The EU's latest Ageing report shows that, among other findings, the population of the EU will be slightly higher in 2060 (517 million, up from 502 million in 2010). The report has been published during the celebration of the European Year of Active Ageing 2012. At the same time it will be much older. In particular, the share of those aged 15-64 is projected to decline from 67% to 56% by 2060. The share of those aged 65 and over is projected to rise from 17% to 30%. As a consequence, the EU would move from having four people of working-age to each person aged over 65 years to about two people of working-age.

This would lead to economic consequences. The total number of workers is projected to decline, and this will act as a drag on growth and per capita income, with a consequent trend decline in potential growth. The latter is estimated to converge to below 1,5% in real terms in the long-term in the EU. Moreover, on the basis of current policies, public pension expenditure alone is projected to rise by 1.5 percentage points to nearly 13% of GDP by 2060. However, the report shows a large diversity across EU Member States, depending notably on progress with pension reforms.

The results of the report also reveals that in some countries, there is a need to take due account of future increases in government expenditure, including through modernisation of social expenditure systems. In other countries, policy actions have been taken, significantly limiting the future increase in government expenditure.