Romania’s ageing population: entrepreneurship opportunities and challenges

Abstract

A globally acknowledged growing phenomenon -ageing of the population -translates into an unprecedented reality. In 2015, the number of people aged 50 and over (seniors) reached 1.6 billion worldwide, with projections pointing to 3.2 billion by 2050. In the United States of America (US) alone, there were 111 million such senior citizens, representing one-third of its total population in 2015 (Oxford Economics 2016). Europe is confronted with a similar 'greying' trend as emphasized in official documents. The 2018 Ageing Report projects significant changes in the age structure of the European Union's (EU) population in the coming decades, resulting in complex major impacts at all levels of the society. According to the document, the old-age dependency ratio (people over 65, relative to those aged 15-64), for example, might rise to 51.2 per cent by 2070 (EC 2018c). Romania is not an exception to this demographic trend. However, just as in other countries, the challenges generated by the country's ageing population are accompanied by many opportunities to foster entrepreneurship, particularly senior entrepreneurship, as underlined further in this chapter.