Macroeconomic Effects of Demographic Aging. WIFO Study Commissioned by the Bertelsmann Stiftung

Serguei Kaniovski; Thomas Url

The two WIFO economists Serguei Kaniovski and Thomas Url presented the study in Berlin to representatives of ministries, parliament and embassies. © Bertelsmann Stiftung

13.12.2019

Macroeconomic Effects of Demographic Aging

WIFO Study Commissioned by the Bertelsmann Stiftung

Demographic change will lead to an ageing and shrinking working population in Austria. In a recently published study for the Bertelsmann Stiftung, WIFO investigated the consequences of demographic change for economic growth and the average income of individuals, and the potential of technological progress.

Due to the expected demographic development alone, Austria's gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to fall by 2.7 billion € or around 4,200 € per capita (at 2010 prices) in 2040, with a subsequent upward trend. Significantly higher investments in digitisation and automation than in the past could soften this development. These results can be found in a recent study in which the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO), commissioned by the Bertelsmann Stiftung, calculated the consequences of demographic ageing on productivity development, economic growth and other macroeconomic variables in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, the USA and Japan up to 2040 and beyond.

Country Sheet Austria

A country sheet summarises on two pages the expected consequences of demographic change for the development of labour productivity, gross domestic product (absolute and per capita), the macroeconomic savings and investment rate, the inflation rate and the current account balance in Austria up to the year 2050. The country sheet for Austria is available here.

Further information about the study can be found here.

The entire study can be downloaded here.