Europe grows older as median age reaches 45; one retiree for every three workers

Brussels – The old continent is getting increasingly older. On 1 January 2025, the median age of the European Union’s population reached 44.9 years. In a decade, it has increased by 2.1 years. The snapshot released by Eurostat is clear: while the working-age population is declining, the number of people aged 65 years and over is increasing. There is now one retiree for every three workers in the EU, and “the share of older people in the total population is expected to increase significantly in the coming decades.”

The knock-on effect is inevitable, and the EU Statistical Office is sounding the alarm: “This may, in turn, lead to an increased burden on those of working age to provide for the social expenditure required by the ageing population for a range of related services.” In some countries, the scenario described by Eurostat is approaching more rapidly than in others: in Italy, where half of the population is already over 49 years old, the average age has increased by four years since 2015.

Ageing has also been pronounced in Slovakia, Cyprus, Greece, Poland, and Portugal. In general, except for Germany and Malta, where the average age has fallen by 0.4 years, all EU countries are now older than they were 10 years ago. This ranges from an average of 49.1 years in Italy to 39.6 years in Ireland. Similarly, the proportion of older people has increased almost everywhere except Malta. In January 2025, the EU population was estimated at 450.6 million people: more than a fifth, 22 per cent, were aged 65 or over. While the life expectancy rises, the birth rate is falling. The number of elderly people is increasing by 3 per cent compared with 2015, while the numbers of children and people of working age are falling. In 2025, children aged 14 and under accounted for 14.4 per cent of the EU population, while citizens of working age accounted for 63.6 per cent.

Italy also ranks last in the EU in terms of the number of children, accounting for only 11.9 per cent of the Italian population. This is less than half the number of elderly people, who account for 24.7 per cent of the population, or a quarter of the total. 

Back in spring 2023, Eurostat updated its national demographic projections up to 2100. The EU could reach its peak population this year, at around 453.3 million people, before gradually declining to 419.5 million by 2100. By the end of the century, people aged 65 and over are likely to account for more than 32 per cent of the EU population.