Britons living in Bulgaria. Guide to Bulgaria, Sofia and Varna

Big drip in Europe's inhabitants predicted - European Accent

Big drip in Europe's inhabitants predicted - European Say Europe's population is projected to contract by 8.3% by 2050, from around 591 million today to 542 million, according to the Berlin Institute for Population and Development (BIPD). By contrast, in all other areas of the world – with the exception of Russia – the population is expected to expand, with the highest rates in Africa (105%) and the US and Canada (30.7%). These areas suffer from low fertility rates, massive outward migration and the marked ageing of the population, the survey shows. However, there are wide differences across the member states. Polish women have an average of 1.3 children, while the figure for Ireland, France, Norway and Sweden is around 2, the BIPD says. The BIPD attributes this difference to the development of state social policies. According to the study, peripheral and rural areas of Europe – areas where large families were once common – are at the highest risk of population decline. In regions of northern Spain, southern Italy, eastern Germany, and large parts of Romania and Bulgaria, fertility rates have fallen well below 2.1.“Remote areas no longer have any means to stem outward migration – they are simply drained empty”, the survey says. France, the UK, Belgium, Ireland the Netherlands and Scandinavian countries have a fertility rate less than 2.1 (in their cases, 1.7 or more), but they have managed to keep their population levels stable through migration. In 2006 alone, labour markets in Ireland and the UK were replenished with 48,038 workers from Poland and 1,695 from Latvia, the survey notes.