“What will we do if the cradle should remain empty in future?”: that’s the title of the joint press conference of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) and the Sustainable Austria Forum, held in Vienna on 19 December. During the press conference the most recent data on demographic trends in Europe were described: according to Eurobarometer, Austria is the country in which the least desire to have children is registered. “Over a third of men between the ages of 25 and 39 don’t want to have children”, reported the demographer Wolfgang Lutz, director of the Demographic Institute of the ÖAW: “that could signify that the already low demographic growth in Austria may further diminish in future, with all the consequences that would involve for our society”. “Until only a short time ago it seemed inconceivable that a further reduction in childbirth could be registered, now at a level of 1.4 children per woman. Nonetheless, according to the latest data, such a possibility should be taken into serious consideration. If this trend were to continue, that would mean that, even assuming moderate levels of immigration, over half the population would be over the age of 60 in 2050 and that the Austrian population would be halved by the end of the century”. Lutz urged that “these fearsome scenarios” be countered by a “wide-ranging public debate on the reasons why so many Austrian young men don’t want to have children or want to have so few”. To this end, he stressed, we need “greater resources for demographic research” in a country like Austria in which there does not even exist a chair of demography. “The main objective of a policy favourable to children must consist in offering young people the prospect of an economically secure future”.
