Europe: Low Fertility, Aging, and Migration Policies

Europe, the first region in the world to witness the demographic transition, is nowadays facing major demographic challenges due to low fertility and population aging. This chapter illustrates the main policies adopted in European countries during recent decades in order to preserve social cohesion and protect the well-being of their citizens. The chapter first deals with policies addressing low fertility, then to policies coping with population aging, and finally with migration policies. Policies addressing low fertility are illustrated with the aim to give an overview of the changes and evolutions occurred during the last 40 years in the policy making, considering both policies by models and by dimensions. A short overview on policy effectiveness is also provided. The section devoted to policies coping with population aging provides an overview of policies dealing with the adopted and ongoing reform of the retirement systems of European countries, with the healthcare reforms, and finally with active aging. The last section of the chapter presents the main policies addressing international migration: welcoming policies, integration policies, asylum policies within the so-called migration crisis, and finally policies designed for high skilled migration.