Long-Run Economic Perspectives of an Ageing Society (LEPAS)

The EU member countries will be increasingly populated by older people. Nearly 25 percent of people in the European Union in 2030 can be above age 65, up from about 17 percent in 2005. Europe's old-age dependency ratio (the number of people age 65 and older compared with the number of working-age people ages 15-64) could more than double by 2050, from one in every four to fewer than one in every two. This is an unprecedented phenomenon with potentially very important implications on society that are far from being well understood.

The LEPAS project investigates theoretically and quantitatively how ageing affects health and productivity. Using models of endogenous economic growth we assess how the feedback effects of ageing on investment and education affect long-run economic growth, competitiveness, and welfare of the EU member countries.