In 2023, Italy and Portugal were the European countries with the largest share of elderly population, with 24 percent of the total population aged 65 years and older. Bulgaria, Czechia, and Finland were the countries with the next highest shares of elderly people in their population, while the European Union on average had 21.3 percent of the population being elderly. Iceland, Luxembourg, and Türkiye had the fewest elderly people, with all three having less than 15 percent of their population in this age category.

In 2024, the population of Europe was estimated to be approximately 6.3 million, with the most common single year of age being 37, at over 10.6 million. By contrast, there were just 176,232 people aged 100 or more in this year.

In 2020, Germany had the highest number of over 65's at approximately 18.1 million, which was followed by Italy and France at 13.9 million and 13.7 million inhabitants respectively.

This statistic displays the age distribution of Europe in 2020, with forecasts for 2025 and 2050. In 2020, the largest age group in Europe were those aged between 35 and 39, at roughly 53 million people. By 2025 however, the largest age group is forecasted to be those aged 40-44 (52.7 million) and by 2050 those aged 60-64 (48.4 million).

SHARE (Survey on Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe www.share-project.org) is a pan-European longitudinal survey of the elderly (50+) population, which focuses on the study of the course of the individual aging process and the causal relationships that influence it, on the one hand, and is, on the other hand, an important source for both monitoring existing policy measures and the science-based initiation of new measures.

The panel waves of the SHARE survey have taken place since 2004 in 2-year increments. The SHARE methodology is designed to be comparable with the similar survey HRS (Heat and Retirement Survey, waves since 1992) in the USA, and in England in 2002. with the ongoing ELSA survey (English Longitudinal Survey on Aging).

Graph and download economic data for Working Age Population: Aged 55-64: All Persons for the European Union (LFWA55TTEUA647S) from 2005 to 2019 about 55 to 64 years, EU, working-age, Europe, and population.

The main objectives of this data collection effort were to assemble a set of cross-nationally comparable microdata samples for Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) countries based on the 1990 national population and housing censuses in countries of Europe and North America, and to use these samples to study the social and economic conditions of older persons. The samples are designed to allow research on a wide range of issues related to aging, as well as on other social phenomena. The Estonia microdata sample contains information on persons aged 50 and over and the persons who reside with them. Variables included in this dataset cover geographic area, type of residency, type of dwelling, and household characteristics, as well as demographic information such as age, sex, marital status, number of children, education, income, and occupation.

In 2020, 7.4 percent of the population of Italy were over the age of 80, compared with the European Union average of 5.9 percent. By contrast, just 1.8 percent of the population of Turkey were aged over 80, the lowest share among the provided countries.

Population aged 15-34 by sex and age (1 000)

Graph and download economic data for Working Age Population: Aged 15-24: All Persons for the European Union (LFWA24TTEUA647N) from 2005 to 2019 about EU, 15 to 24 years, working-age, Europe, and population.

The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), is a longitudinal micro-data infrastructure created in response to a communication by the European Commission (2000) to the Council and the European Parliament, which identified population ageing and its social and economic challenges to growth and prosperity to be among the most pressing challenges of the 21st century in Europe. SHARE has also become one of the most prestigious social science infrastructures and was in 2011 the first to be appointed a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) by the European Council.The overarching objective of SHARE is to better understand the interactions between bio-medical factors, the socio-economic environment and policy interventions in the ageing European populations. SHARE aims to achieve this objective by providing a research infrastructure for fundamental science as well as a tool for policy evaluation and design. Initiated in 2002, SHARE is scheduled to launch, all in all, 10 data collection waves. At present eight waves have been fulfilled and seven waves are available to the research community.

Please also cite the following publications in addition to the SHARE acknowledgement:

Malter, F. and A. Börsch-Supan (Eds.) (2017). SHARE Wave 6: Panel innovations and collecting Dried Blood Spots. Munich: Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA). Börsch-Supan, A., Brandt, M., Hunkler, C., Kneip, T., Korbmacher, J., Malter, F., Schaan, B., Stuck, S. and Zuber, S. (2013). Data Resource Profile: The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). International Journal of Epidemiology DOI: 10.1093/ije/dyt088.

SHARE - Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe - is a multidisciplinary and cross-national panel database. It provides micro data on health, socio-economic status and social and family networks of thousands individuals aged 50 or over and their (younger) partners. The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe seeks to analyse the process of population ageing in depth. Copyright © Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) 2015 When using data from this dataset, please cite the dataset as follows: Börsch-Supan, A. (2022). Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) Wave 5. Release version: 8.0.0. SHARE-ERIC. Data set. DOI: 10.6103/SHARE.w5.800 Please also cite the following publications in addition to theSHARE acknowledgement: Börsch-Supan, A., T. Kneip, H. Litwin, M. Myck, G. Weber (Eds.) (2015). Ageing in Europe - Supporting Policies for an Inclusive Society. Berlin: De Gruyter. Malter, F. and A. Börsch-Supan (Eds.) (2015). SHARE Wave 5: Innovations & Methodology. Munich: MEA, Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy. Börsch-Supan, A., Brandt, M., Hunkler, C., Kneip, T., Korbmacher, J., Malter, F., Schaan, B., Stuck, S. and Zuber, S. (2013). Data Resource Profile: The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). International Journal of Epidemiology DOI: 10.1093/ije/dyt088.

Demand for European residential care services is closely tied to demographic shifts, notably age shifts. As Europe grapples with an ageing population and people are living longer, demand for retirement homes and nursing care homes is climbing to cater to this growth. The industry is essential for providing care to older people, with nursing care offering clinical care through medical services, rehabilitation and personal care. Greater life expectancies across Europe are driving demand, as seniors require more specialised medical care and assistance that isn’t possible at home. Revenue is anticipated to contract at a compound annual rate of 0.5% over the five years through 2024. In several European countries, the residential care market is still relatively under-utilised compared to the size of the elderly population. In Southern Europe, notably Spain and Italy, households use retirement homes less because of a tradition of more family-based care. Revenue is projected to grow by 1.2% in 2024 to €153.3 billion. The strict regulatory environment that care services have to operate in makes it harder for new service providers to set up and therefore, it’s tricky for increased demand to translate to revenue growth. Looking forward, the ageing demographic isn’t showing signs of slowing, which will sustain demand for residential care services. Robust demand from an ageing population will continue to accelerate industry growth. Residential care providers will have to navigate more stringent regulations, which will be an additional hurdle for new providers. Revenue is expected to swell at a compound annual rate of 0.7% over the five years through 2029 to €159.1 billion. Profit is estimated to reach 2.9% in 2029.

This section presents statistical information on the educational variables that are collected in the Labour Force Survey of the National Institute of Statistics, as well as in the Community Labour Force Survey (Eurostat). The indicators of the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (2021-2030) that derive from these sources are highlighted. The information is presented disaggregated by autonomous community and by country of the European Union, according to the source used, and with temporary developments since 2002.Line break The results are obtained as annual averages of quarterly data, so the information is updated annually, as the four quarters of the EPA are available, as well as the results derived from the Community survey of Eurostat. From the 2014 results of the EPA, the new National Classification of Education, CNED-2014, based on the International Standard Classification of Education, ISCED-2011, applied in the LFS, is applied; and from 2016, the update of the sectors/fields of study of both classifications (CNED-F and ISCED-F) is applied. These changes in the rankings represent a series break for some of the tables, as indicated in the accompanying notes.

Working Age Population: Aged 25-54: All for the European Union was 205262225.00000 Persons in January of 2019, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, Working Age Population: Aged 25-54: All for the European Union reached a record high of 213351625.00000 in January of 2009 and a record low of 205262225.00000 in January of 2019. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Working Age Population: Aged 25-54: All for the European Union - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on March of 2025.

This graph displays the total population size of citizens aged from between 50 and 54 years old in Europe in 2018, by country. That year there were roughly 6.97 million inhabitants of this age group in Germany, this was followed by Italy and the United Kingdom with approximately 4.91 million and 4.67 million inhabitants respectively.

Graph and download economic data for Working Age Population: Aged 15-24: All Persons for the Euro Area (19 Countries) (LFWA24TTEZA647N) from 2005 to 2022 about 15 to 24 years, working-age, Euro Area, Europe, and population.

Attitude towards the EU and EU enlargement.

Topics: life satisfaction; subjective rating of the development of the general life situation, the economic situation, the financial situation of the household, personal job situation, national labor market situation and the personal professional outlook in the coming year; native language; knowledge of foreign languages; frequency of political discussions with friends; self-rated opinion leadership; frequency of news consumption (television, newspaper and radio); interest in following news topics: local and national politics, social issues, EU, economics, sports, the environment, foreign politics, culture; spontaneous associations with the EU; general attitude towards the EU; knowledge of international institutions and trust into these institutions: UN, UNESCO, NATO, EU, European Parliament, European Commission, OSCE, Council of Europe, European Court of Human Rights, International Court of Justice; Self-rated knowledge about the EU (scale); awareness of application for EU membership by own country; accession to EU of own country as a good thing; approval of EU membership of own country if a referendum was held; advantageousness of EU accession for the own country, the own person and following groups: people with and without foreign language skills, entrepreneurs, politicians, professionals such as doctors or lawyers, young people, children, employees, industrial workers, medium-sized businesses, teachers, civil servants, middle-aged people, farmers, the rural population, the unemployed, pensioners, elderly, population of the capital, cultural, religious and other minorities; some regions benefit more than others, all population groups; agreement with the following statements: accession of the own country would be beneficial for the EU, increasing size of EU increases security and peace, would promote the national economy, increase the influence of the own country in Europe, satisfaction of the national government accession policy, increasing influence of the EU in the world if number of members increases, historical and geographical legitimacy of EU membership of the country, increased cultural wealth and standard of living, rising unemployment due to EU enlargement; expected and desired EU accession year of the own country; consent to possible EU accession of Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey; EU or own country as preferred decision-making authority for the following policies: defense, environmental protection, currency, Humanitarian Aid, health and welfare, broadcasting and press, poverty reduction, combating unemployment, agriculture and fisheries, regional compensation, education, science and technology, information on EU , non-European foreign policy, culture, immigration, asylum, fighting against organized crime, police, justice, refugee resettlement, combat of youth delinquency, urban crime and human trafficking, the fight against drugs; preferred source of information about the EU; desire for additional information on the following topics: history of the EU, the EU institutions, European Economic and Monetary Union, Euro, European economy, European single market, further financial / economic issues, agriculture in the EU, European Foreign and Security Policy, international relations of the EU; regional policy of the EU, the European budget, European research and development policy, education policy, cultural policy, youth policy, EU citizenship, consumer protection and environmental protection in the EU, European social policy.

Demography: nationality; family situation; age at end of education; gender; age; occupation; professional position; degree of urbanization; household size; possession of durable goods, role of respondent in the household: main breadwinner, responsible for purchases and household maintenance, religious affiliation, frequency of church attendance, household income

This graph displays the total population size of citizens aged from between 30 and 34 years old in Europe in 2018, by country. That year there were roughly 5.29 million inhabitants of this age group in Germany, which was followed by the United Kingdom and France with approximately 4.44 million and 4.05 million inhabitants respectively.

This study explores the causal relationship between the economy and the elderly population in 15 European countries. The economy was measured by the Per Capita Gross Domestic Product growth rate, while the population aged above 65 as a percentage of the total was considered the elderly population. The data were obtained from a time series dataset published by the World Bank for six decades from 1961 to 2021. The Granger causality test was employed in the study to analyse the impact between the economy and the elderly population. An alternate approach, wavelet coherence, was used to demonstrate the changes to the relationship between the two variables in Europe over the 60 years. The findings from the Granger causality test indicate a unidirectional Granger causality from the economy to the elderly population for Luxembourg, Austria, Denmark, Spain, and Sweden, while vice versa for Greece and the United Kingdom. Furthermore, for Belgium, Finland, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and Turkey, Granger causality does not exist between the said variables. Moreover, wavelet coherence analysis depicts that for Europe, the elderly population negatively affected the economic growth in the 1960s, and vice versa in the 1980s.