How does the ageing of population affect the development of nations? Does migration pose threats or open opportunities for development? The answers to these questions were given 1 November 2013 during the presentation of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) Report “Population Trends and Policy Responses”.
The report complemented the survey of all governments and civil society conducted in 2012 on the progress made in implementing the Programme of Action adopted at the Cairo Conference on Population and Development.
The report consists of three analytical sections: description and analysis of the past and future trends of population dynamics, analysis of policy responses and potential challenges to their implementation, and recommendations on policy development.
Each of the sections gives answers to the hot questions pertaining to four main topics: reproductive health, gender issues, ageing and migration. Two latter topics were the key issues, which were discussed during the presentation of the report. UNFPA experts will discuss the issues of gender equality and reproductive health in Belarus at the following events.
Tatyana Pronko, UNFPA Programme Associate, spoke about the existing and future challenges of ageing society,
“Currently both in the UNECE region and Belarus we observe the trend of slowing down population growth and its ageing. For example, at year-end 2012 the proportion of people aged 60 and over in the total population was 19.5%, while in 2006 this figure was 18.3%. Therefore, one has to move from the recognition of the importance of population numbers to understanding the role of population quality. Currently the average age of the population of Belarus is 39.8 years, in 2050 it is expected to reach 49.4 years. This means that every year the population of the country will be getting older. So, it is essential to create such conditions that people enter elderly age maintaining their independence and economic activity, and it is exactly then that the process of ageing will no more present a threat for the development of nations”.
Natalia Karavaya, Consultant of the Department of Targeted Social Assistance and Social Services of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection mentioned the introduction of elderly day care facilities, where retired people can receive necessary assistance without changing their place of residence while staying in the familiar environment. The authors of the report emphasized the introduction of such care as one of the recommendations for approaching ageing in policy development.
Andrei Eliseev, Analyst of the Belarusian Institute of Strategic Studies mentioned the positive and negative impacts of migration on the development of Belarus,
“Out-migration both positively and negatively affects the population dynamics in Belarus not merely on the quantitative but also on the qualitative level. Equally, if one considers only labour migration from Belarus, on the one hand, it contributes to the shortage of labour force in a number of branches of the national economy (construction, transport, communal services). On the other hand, migrant workers acquire additional experience and skills while working abroad, the unemployment rate goes down, and money transfers from migrant workers reduce the poverty level in the country and somewhat improve Belarus's balance of payments”.
Tatyana Meleshko, Chief Inspector for Special Commissions of the Department for Citizenship and Migration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs mentioned, “Currently the Department works to attract migrant workers into the rural areas of Belarus to take the least popular jobs. To this end, special measures have been designed, which allow obtaining residence permits within 30 days, and in future - even receive lump-sum payments”.
The authors of the “Population Trends and Policy Responses” report are planning to enlarge the list of trends and recommendations to improve existing state programmes across the four mentioned topics, which could then be used by the governments of all UNECE countries.
For details please contact
Volha Herasenka,
Communications Assistant, UNFPA Belarus,
tel. in Minsk: 227 45 27 or mobile: 8 029 178 67 00.
