MONS: How to reduce ageing in Serbia - a million dollar question

But, she added, the bigger problem was that the negative trend in ageing would continue. “How to slow down ageing in Serbia is a million dollar question.”

Lebedinski said the same trend existed in the region and Europe as a whole.

“Germany and Italy are older than Serbia with an average age of 46, while among the youngest nations are Island and Ireland with 36 and 37 average age of the population respectively,” Lebedinski said.

The continuous trend of ageing leads to other problems in the pension fund, health and social systems, she has warned.

“The employed will have more old people to support. They earned their pensions, and we should not look at them as a burden. We, as the society, have to see, how to secure them good old age,” Lebedinski said.

Taking part at an N1 talk show, Dragan Stanojevic from the Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy also said the number of retirees would rise.

“At a family level, inter-generation solidarity is essential. And it exists in Serbia,” he said.

However, Stanojevic said some surveys showed that the most critical condition for starting a family was financial security.

“The employment of young people is on the rise, but mostly in temporary jobs,” he added. "Young people need the safety to decide to start a family."

Lebedinski also said that the problems of the ageing nation were a low level of fertility, migrations and longer lifespan.“The situation in the country and the entire system should improve to stop the ageing process,” she added.