ROMANIA VERSUS THE EUROPEAN UNION - A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE FEATURES OF DEMOGRAPHIC AGEING

Abstract

The demographic ageing of the population has lately become an extremely sensitive and difficult issue. The solutions to this problem require a common and sustained effort from all the decision factors in every country in order to ensure the autonomy and the welfare in old age by keeping social costs as low as possible. The alarming increase in the number of elderly people and the fluctuation of the other categories of population raise an important question mark regarding the efficiency of the social and economic public policies and the sustainability and viability of the pension systems. Demographic ageing has had a profound impact on all the generations and on most fields of economic activity. As a member state of the European Union, Romania has been part of the European trend as regards the demographic ageing phenomenon, sometimes exceeding, in a negative manner, the levels recorded by the other member states.