On World Population Day, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia emphasizes the need to respond to demographic changes facing countries in this region based on evidence and in accordance with human rights principles.
“The way demographic changes are discussed in this region is still often marked by misconceptions and anxiety,” says Florence Bauer, UNFPA Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
“The demographic changes this region is facing are real, and their effects require an urgent response,” Ms. Bauer stated, adding that there is no reason for panic as there is much that governments can do to mitigate negative consequences and fully capitalize on the opportunities that also come with demographic changes.
Across Eastern and Southeastern Europe, birth rates are low, generally ranging between 1.3 and 1.8 children per woman. At the same time, millions of people have left this region in search of better opportunities elsewhere. Combined, these trends have accelerated population aging and led to a decrease in the number of inhabitants in the region. Most countries that have fewer inhabitants today than in 1990 are located in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. In some of these countries, the population has decreased by 30 percent or more during the mentioned period.
While much of the discussion in the region focuses on increasing birth rates, the UN Population Fund warns that this can jeopardize women’s rights, ignoring the underlying factors that hinder family formation and drive external migration. Some of these factors include insufficient quality of education, housing issues, unstable jobs, political instability, corruption, and the like.
“This is why emphasizing birth rates can be counterproductive and potentially harmful,” says Ms. Bauer, highlighting that this risks diverting attention from real solutions to demographic challenges and undoing decades of progress in gender equality, reproductive rights, and women’s empowerment, with potentially far-reaching negative consequences for the stability and development of the state.
Although demographic data is important, countries can be successful even when birth rates are low. However, this requires sustainable investments in human capital and the removal of numerous obstacles that women and other marginalized groups still face in their desire to fully participate in the economy and public life.
UNFPA collaborates with governments in all countries of this region to enhance capacities for a comprehensive response to demographic changes, based on evidence and in accordance with human rights and gender equality principles. The demographic resilience program is based on four pillars: policy measures, human capital, systemic reforms, and public support.
World Population Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly to raise awareness of demographic issues and has been observed since 1990.
UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is the UN agency for sexual and reproductive health, with a mission to create a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe, and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.