By Vladimr Spidla (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-01-15 07:20

Although we may be far away geographically, when it comes to demographic change, China and Europe have very much in common.

We both face rapidly aging populations as a result of low birth rates and increasing life expectancy. Both world regions will see the beginning of a modest decline in population size after 2025.

The working age population in Europe will already start to decline after 2010. The decline in China's working age population will begin only five years later. How can we adapt to these changes and make sure our pension and social security systems keep up?

In Europe, we have clearly chosen to address the demographic challenge as an opportunity to support our economic and social prosperity, not as a threat. Studies show that Europeans would in fact like to have more children, so the real challenge is how to make it easier for them to actually do so.

The EU is promoting a "life-cycle approach" to make both companies and workers more adaptable to change. We need to make our educational systems and our work patterns more flexible. And we must support those who want to have children when they want them.

Countries with family-friendly policies in areas such as equal access to employment, parental leave for men and women, equal pay, generally have higher birth rates and more women in work.

They are also some of the best performing countries in terms of jobs and growth. Ensuring Europeans have the support they need to bring up a family, care for family members and pursue a successful career is crucial to the success of the EU's Lisbon strategy for Growth and Jobs.

China is facing similar challenges with potentially dramatic consequences on the labor market. After 2015, the working age population is forecast to decline, imposing greater demands on the pension system.

While China became an aging society when its per capita income was still relatively low, the EU went through aging at an earlier stage. So we see an opportunity to exchange and share our experiences with China.

Europe has established relatively comprehensive pension and medical insurance systems. This experience can act as a useful reference for China while it builds its own social security system in an era of rapid aging and high economic growth.

The EU-China seminar that I had the privilege to open in Shanghai yesterday would enable both sides to discuss policy responses to the socio-economic changes taking place as a result of aging societies in both Europe and China.

I believe we have a lot to share in our different approaches to a common challenge and - to use an Asian expression - develop better harmony between the generations. This is also backed up with concrete actions.

Since the launch of the first EU-China dialogue in employment and social affairs in 2005 and a 20-million-euro joint project to support the reform of China's pension system, our cooperation is becoming increasingly solid. We are now looking forward to learning together how best to prepare our social models for the challenges of the future, while assuring social cohesion and prosperity for all.

The author is EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities

(China Daily 01/15/2008 page9)