According to the Vienna Institute for International Economic Comparisons (wiiw), this development continues even if migration and optimistic birth estimates are taken into account. A current study by the wiiw shows that this is noticeable in economic growth, which is suffering from an aging population.
According to the wiiw, there are two theories that estimate the economic impact of an aging society. On the one hand, the progressive aging in Europe could lead to a “period of slow growth”, but on the other hand also to more investments in automation. The economist Maryna Tverdostup and the economist Robert Stehrer from the wiiw examined both theses for the 27 EU countries.
Key finding of the study: The aging of the EU population could contribute to weaker economic growth. The relationship between population aging and annual GDP growth is “weakly negative”. A similarly negative association between aging and economic growth has been demonstrated in US state studies.
The study could not confirm the assumption that an aging society leads to accelerated automation and more investment in new technologies. “Our results suggest that the degree of robotization largely depends on the level of economic development and other absorptive capacities for new technologies,” Stehrer said. A significant connection between aging and robotization was therefore not found.
The study was carried out as part of the EU project “Untangled”, which examines the effects of globalisation, technological change and demographic changes on the labor markets in the EU. For this purpose, national data, Eurostat data, the EU Labor Force Survey and figures from the International Association of Robotics Institutes (IFR) were evaluated.
Source: Nachrichten
