The Population Trend in Europe and Its Challenges

Question: 1. What trends are observable in the population data from CBS? 2. What policy changes should be incorporated for the aging population? 3. Think creatively. What are the opportunities for entrepreneurs to help society adjust to this population shift? Answer: 1. According to the national data, the population of the western countries entails more of the elderly people and less of the young generation. Life expectancy is on the increase. This means that the countries in these regions would have more people growing to be very old. On the other hand, there seems to be a reduction in the fertility rate as the number of the elderly is almost outdoing the number of the younger generation (Magnus, 2012). It can only be concluded that the people are not interested in raising families, or there is a general problem of fertility. This has made the statisticians to project that there is as the likelihood of population decline in these countries in several decades ahead (Brsch-Supan et al, 2013). According to the demographic data, there has been an increasingly decline of the population from previous decades to date and that only means that the trend can continue for decades to come if some measures are not taken to control the pattern. 2. Various options are available for the government of Western countries in dealing with the rising population of the elderly people and ever reducing a number of the younger generation. The government should consider extending the retirement age of the population so that the burden of taking care of the elderly would be reduced. Also the government should increase the budget costs to caring for the elderly since most of these countries are wealthy and can afford to take care of them (Magnus, 2012). Such costs would involve increasing the pension fund for them old. On another incidence, these countries can reduce the restrictions and conditions for migration so that foreigners can easily move to their countries and help them in production as they would work in their industrial sectors thus filling the labor gap. Furthermore, the old can be encouraged to engage in more physical exercise and be advised to refrain from activities that would have unfavorable effects on their health (Ezeh , Bongaarts, Mberu, 2012). This would not only help them but also reduce the health burden that the government would have to incur to take care of them. 3. The increase in the population of the senior citizens in western countries presents opportunities for the entrepreneurs to gain a lot economically (Morel, Palier Palme, 2012). There would be a number of services that these senior citizens would be seeking to cater for their various needs. Such opportunities would be a need to take care of them. Entrepreneurs can start businesses that tried to solve the various problems that the aging population would be facing. For example, there would be a need for people they would use to run errands for them such as paying various local government bills as well as managing their home affairs (Magnus, 2012). If someone has a big home, then the entrepreneurs can start an innovative business of running such homes and thus earning some income out of it. They can also open home care for those who are too old and would need special care. Also, there would be open opportunities to replace the old population in the industrial jobs and other businesses. The young entrepreneurs can take up the possible chances to start a business of managing foreign workers and bringing them to Europe to work in the industries and them the get paid for each employee that they bring to the sectors. An example of such businesses would be a human resource consultancy firm. References Brsch-Supan, A., Brandt, M., Hunkler, C., Kneip, T., Korbmacher, J., Malter, F., ... Zuber, S. (2013). Data resource profile: the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). International journal of epidemiology, dyt088. Ezeh, A. C., Bongaarts, J., Mberu, B. (2012). Global population trends and policy options. The Lancet, 380(9837), 142-148. Magnus, G. (2012). The age of aging: How demographics are changing the global economy and our world. John Wiley Sons. Morel, N., Palier, B., Palme, J. (2012). Towards a social investment welfare state?: ideas, policies and challenges. Policy Press.