2017 Vol. 9 №1

Population ageing is a major problem of European development in the 21st cen­tury. Rapid population ageing in most developed countries will continue to drive the dependency ratio up. This research aims to forecast dependency ratio in the Baltic region until the end of the century. A more detailed population analysis and forecast is provided for the case of the Baltic States — Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The authors use Bayesian probabilistic predictions based on data from the Pop­ulation Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Principle research methods include multi-factor simulation modelling; some find­ings are presented on schematic maps. The study shows that by the end of the century the highest dependency ratio in the Baltic region will be observed in Poland, while Finland, Estonia, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden will also face significant challenges. The authors put forward demographic policy recommendations for those Baltic region states that will reach the highest dependency ratio by the second half of the 21st century.

This article demonstrates the effect of the 2010s migration crisis has had on the demographic development of the European Union. Employing statistics and map­ping, the study argues that the demographic development of EU states is not affected by either socioeconomic performance or religious, linguistic, and cultural charac­teristics. Migration inflow differs significantly by country and EU region. The au­thors analyse major irregular migration routes and show that their use cannot be always explained by using traditional demographic approaches. There is also a dif­ference in the proportion of migrants by country, although settlement systems are very similar. Even with decades spent in the destination country, the Muslim popula­tion remains poorly integrated into the local community and its effect on the latter is insignificant (Turks in Germany). The demographic mosaic of the European Union is becoming increasingly fragmented, which makes any national level demographic forecasts inconsequential. However, community-level forecasts are possible and necessary. All this creates a need for geodemographic research.