HR Blog

Population ageing knows no boundaries

It is not our ambition to devote this blog to long-standing political quandaries. However, the current regional dispute serves as a powerful source of inspiration. While reports about regional issues may give us the impression that communities live on their own islands today, employment market specialists paint quite a different picture.

Luc Sels’ recently published research, commissioned by Acerta, shows that population ageing knows no regional boundaries. A comparison between shifts in the age groups distribution in Flanders and Wallonia, shows that active population ageing progresses slightly faster in the south. For every 100 Walloons that belonged to the 55-64 age group in 2000, there will be 150,6 in 2020. The increase in Flanders is not as sharp: from 100 to 140,8. On the other hand, population ageing in Flanders is accompanied by a plummeting birth rate, an evolution that is less outspoken in the Walloon region.

Nevertheless, Flanders and Wallonia have a number of shared concerns. Examples are the enormous growth of the 55-64 age group and the falling young/old ration (130 to 88 in the Walloon region and 112 to 74 in the Flemish region). An evolution that clearly shows that recently suggested labour mobility from the southern to the northern part of Belgium can only be a temporary solution.

The situation is different for Brussels, where increasing immigration results in a better balance between young and old. But then again, specialists issue warnings about the capital’s soaring juvenile unemployment rates.

Time to join forces, and to pack in the regional autonomies? It is clearly time for a debate that exceeds regional boundaries. Even though population aging and tumbling birth rates may present themselves differently across the country, they are omnipresent.