PROCESSES OF POPULATION AGEING AND ECONOMIC ACTIVITY OF THE ELDERLY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION BASED ON THE EXAMPLE OF POLAND AND SWEDEN

Abstract

From the point of view of the labour market, the decreasing number of the productive part of society has unfavourable consequences for the socio-economic development. Population ageing is a long-term process reflected in the growing share of elderly people in the population combined with a decline in the share of people of working age in the general population. This process is an inevitable consequence of changes in the two components of natural movement – reproduction and mortality. The aim of the paper is to assess the situation of elderly people in the labour market in the face of demographic changes taking place in the EU, including Poland and Sweden. Based on empirical data, differences between Poland and Sweden in the sphere of activation of the elderly, broken down by women and men, are shown. It can be seen in the presented discussion that although both countries face similar changes in the age structure of their population, the effects of these problems, mainly from the point of view of elderly people’s activity in the labour market, are different. The paper is of a factual and overview nature. It presents basic economic indicators used in assessing processes of population ageing, including the demographic burden index. Statistical analysis was carried out based on published public statistics data from the Central Statistical Office, Eurostat and SCB (Statistics Sweden).