Policy Briefs

Almost 14,000 unaccompanied minors – children under the age of 18 – registered as asylum seekers in the European Union (EU) in 2019, according to Eurostat. The chances that they will receive asylum depend significantly on the story they tell. To address dilemmas in unaccompanied minors’ asylum

hearing procedures and how to resolve these issues, the VULNER project organised a High-Level Expert Meeting  in October 2020. The meeting was chaired by project researchers Hilde Lidén (Institute for Social Research) and Sylvie Sarolea (Catholic University of Louvain).

Population decline in rural areas has recently gained importance on the European Union’s (EU) agenda and is currently among the priorities related to demographic change for the Vice-President for Democracy and Demography of the European Commission. In this current policy brief, eminent demography scholars present key insights from the discipline, aiming to contribute to the current debates on the future of rural areas in Europe.

This policy brief aims to offer an overview of the current state of scientific knowledge on the root causes of migration; review the opportunities and limitations of migration estimates and forecasts regarding future trends; and provide evidence-informed policy recommendations.

In light of the COVID-19 crisis, one of the most urgent policy issues is to gain a better understanding of the extent and ways in which demographics have determined different patterns of mortality in European countries due to the virus, and whether and how the pandemic and its economic consequences will affect population dynamics in the future. European demographers have been intensively working on these questions since the pandemic began. This policy brief offers an overview of the most important crisis outcomes identified by the demographic community in Europe to date, and points towards the pivotal trends that need to be tackled in the coming months.

How can municipalities respond to population changes and what steps can be taken to maintain the quality of life in regions shrinking in population size? What are the differences in the needs and demands of young generations, young families and older generations? These questions were the subject of a meeting held in Berlin on 20 January 2020 on behalf of a project funded by the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, in which experts from science, policy, local government and civil society in Germany discussed possible solutions.

Evidence-based policy requires high-quality data. Fortunately, we are living through a data revolution, which is opening up new opportunities for better quality data to feed into the policymaking process. There is an increasingly diverse range of data to help inform policy. Data from censuses and population registers, as well as from surveys, biomarkers, digital trace data and genetic data can help us triangulate and deepen our understanding of populations. However, when there is such a vast amount of data available, there is a danger that we end up drowning in numbers.

Policies and services aimed at promoting work-life balance should sustain the wellbeing of parents, in particular mothers; Wellbeing following the first child is a key element leading to the progression to the second birth. This parity should constitute the main target for family and fertility policies; Securing stable employment and decent housing at younger ages for men and women are necessary measures for the onset of childbearing and to close the gap between desired and realised fertility intentions in Europe; Norms enforcing the uptake of parental leave by both men and women are necessary in order to increase the wellbeing of parents.

The gender pay gap and other risks linked to the devaluation of care work should be tackled by combating ageism; creating and enforcing a minimum standard of care provision; creating a professional qualification system and career pathways for professional carers; and by supporting community-based care with solutions that respect the dignity and identity of care receivers. Measures to support informal caregivers should allow them to receive and transfer pension contributions and provide them with an array of relief measures. Care in old age should be a social responsibility framed as a human right, where a minimum standard of universal care is provided to everyone and quality controls are put in place.

Key messages: 1) ‘Vulnerability’ is increasingly becoming a commonly used term within the legal and policy discourse on asylum and migration. It serves as a tool that guides the implementation of legal and policy frameworks in a way that addresses specific needs and prevents the emergence of new ones. 2) ‘Vulnerability’ has the advantage of contextualizing migration policy, since it draws attention to the concrete experiences lived by migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.