INVESTING IN YOUNG PEOPLE DIRECTLY RESPONDS TO DEMOGRAPHIC PROBLEMS AT NATIONAL LEVEL

Abstract

The results of this research are based on the analysis of the secondary data, the interpretation of the conclusions of the participatory observation and the semi-structured group interviews. The secondary data analyzed are statistical data from the national and global level, which highlights the main demographic global issues as well as the forecasts of the specialists in the field for the period 2020-2030 and 2030-2060. The participatory observation took place in over 2650 young people, and group interviews were conducted with 500 young students at the Bucharest faculties. Both methods were implemented between 2015-2018. It has been found that, both at national and global level, the increase in population aging is caused by declining birth rates, lowering the motivation of young people to start a family, difficulty in integrating them into the labor market after completing their studies, and increasing the age at which young people are thinking about setting up a family and having children. A response to all these probes could be investing in young people. This is the main hypothesis behind this research. Investing in young people should focus on integrating into their labor markets, training them and providing non-financial incentives to increase birth rates, especially for women. These must be correlated in parallel with measures to ensure a decent standard of living for aging people. This research reveals a difference in the role of young people as a distinct sector at national level that should intervene to reduce the aging of the population and the decrease of the birth rate, depending on the applied research methods.