Serbia: Policy Response to Demographic Challenges

Serbia, with its already aged population, is facing demographic challenges that are projected to result in even older population in the following 30 years. The main reasons of this frightening outlook are low fertilityFertility rates, emigrationEmigration, and premature mortalityMortality. This chapter provides an in-depth overview of political response to these challenges. The chapter emphasizes the need for a comprehensive approach to addressing these issues, focusing on socioeconomic development, investment in health, education, and environmental programs, as well as closing the gender gap. It discusses the role of active agingActive aging, the importance of recognizing and addressing the needs of particularly vulnerable elderly individuals, and the necessity of implementing effective measures to promote childbirth. It also explores the potential benefits of managing migrationMigration as a tool for socioeconomic development and addressing premature mortalityMortality through primary and secondary prevention programs. The existing policy response to low fertilityFertility in Serbia, which involves offering direct cash benefits to encourage births, has been ineffective and comes with opportunity costs. Instead, the authors propose investing in the healthcare system as a more effective use of resources, given the substantial economic cost of premature mortalityMortality. Policy response especially in the near term should be on stopping the crippling emigrationEmigration from Serbia. Authors suggest that better data collection, especially on emigrationEmigration, would allow for more substantial research and enable evidence-based decision-making in future, ultimately leading to more targeted measures to address demographic challenges in Serbia.