The EU’s population has aged in the last years. Those aged less than 15 years accounted for 15.6% of the EU’s population in 2014, although this rate varied considerably among the Member States, from lows of 13.1% in in Germany to a high of 22.0% in Ireland. In contrast, the proportion of the EU population aged more than 64 years grew to 18.6% in 2014, the share rising to almost 21% in Italy and Germany.
A little less than two thirds (65.8%) of the EU’s population were of working age (15 to 64 years old) in 2014. In a series of population pyramids, projections through until 2050 suggest, however, that this relatively large proportion of the population may shrink gradually to about 57% of the total. This narrower working base will need to support a growing population of persons aged over 65 years or more (nearly 29 % of the population). The importance of the very old (80 years or more) will be considerable by 2060, when this age group is likely to account for 12.0% of the EU’s population, swelled by numbers from the so-called baby-boom generation.