Slovakia to become one of EU's 3 oldest countries by 2060

Slovakia's demographic future is far from optimistic, researchers of Comenius University's Faculty of Natural Sciences and Infostat cautioned on Thursday. "Ageing in Slovakia has been a strong phenomenon since 1990", said faculty vice-dean Branislav Bleha. Despite this trend, when it comes to the average age of the population, Slovakia is one of the three youngest countries in the EU. Bleha noted that this trend will change soon and Slovakia will become one of the three oldest countries by 2060. Apart from ageing, Slovakia is also struggling with low natality. While the procreation rate for one woman on average at the end of the 1980s was two children, it was less than 1.3 children at the beginning of the third millennium. "Within a decade, Slovakia moved from the position of a country with one of the highest natality rates to one of the lowest rates worldwide", said Branislav Sprocha from Infostat. Nevertheless, there has been a slight increase in the natality rate over the past ten years, which has been caused by women who had been delaying pregnancy until later in life. Another problem is that the numbers of women of child-bearing is shrinking. "Even if we had a newfound intensity in terms of natality - even higher than at the end of the 1980s - it isn't possible that many children would be born", added Sprocha.