NBS: Slovakia Faces Many Challenges, One of Biggest Is Ageing Population
Bratislava, July 19 (TASR) - Education and talent development, modernisation of health care, the ability to cope with the impacts of climate change - these are some of the biggest challenges Slovakia has ahead of it, Slovakia's central bank (NBS) governor Peter Kazimir pointed out in connection with a document called 'Structural Challenges 2024' published by the central bank on Friday.
According to NBS, one of the biggest challenges for Slovakia's society and economy is the ageing of the population. "Slovakia is ageing. There are more and more old people and pensioners, there will be fewer and fewer working people. These are not hypothetical calculations. We will feel it significantly in 10-15 years," stressed Kazimir.
The central bank has calculated that the number of people of working age in Slovakia will fall by 280,000 over the next 15 years. As a result, their ratio to the post-working-age population over 65 will fall from the current 3.7 to 2.8.
Part of the solution lies in more intensive employment of both pensioners and young people, especially women. A well thought-out strategy will also be needed to attract talent and labour from abroad. However, even this alone won't solve the labour market problems. "Today, neither Slovakia nor any European country is ready to accept such a number of foreigners to compensate for the shortfall of domestic players," said the NBS governor.
"We have to figure out how to accomplish more with fewer people. In this, unfortunately, we've been less and less successful lately. The productivity of our employees is growing more and more slowly," pointed out Kazimir.
Modern technology, digitisation and the advent of artificial intelligence offer possible solutions for the future. However, according to Kazimir, Slovakia isn't yet ready to use them. More sophisticated investments also require educated people, he stressed. "Our education system cannot offer them to the Slovak economy to the extent we need them. In addition, many talented people, not only young people, are leaving us for abroad," he added, commenting on the NBS findings.
