Aging Populations, Pension Funds, and Financial Markets

Regional Perspectives and Global Challenges for Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe

The ageing of population is a phenomenon in the whole world but especially advanced in highly developed northern countries. The countries of Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe (CESE) have some of the oldest populations in the world. Combined with other challenges population ageing will place additional pressure on their pension systems. This study, a cooperation between ERSTE Stiftung and the World Bank, discusses six key themes that emerged from an international discussion on demographic ageing and financial markets against the backdrop of the countries of CESE.

Utopian Visions

Governance failures in Kosovo´s capital

Utopian Vision is the first of the European Stability initiatives (ESI) studies titled New Economic Geography. It broaches the issue and the concerning conflicts in this matter of Kosovo, in its process of change as to deindustrialization, Europeanization and the living together in a multiethnic society. Especially Pristina as the capital city of Kosovo and therefore the major player of this process of revitalisation has to face urban challenges and has to make an effort to gain economic structures and foremost an effective and democratic governance.

Long-Term Care in Central and South Eastern Europe

Status Quo - Challenges – Perspectives (Accessible Report)

Ageing has become on of the major socio-economic concerns in Europe and beyond in the last years. This study is a cooperation between ERSTE Stiftung and the Institute of Social Policy at the University of Economics Vienna, within the project “Generations in Dialogue”. It has taken up the challenge to collect information on how citizens, private actors and the state deal with the issue of long term care, to put this information in the comparative perspective, and to discuss challenges and perspectives for the future of long-term care in this region. The project covers eight countries in the Central and South Eastern Europe region.

Adequacy of Retirement Income After Pension Reforms in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe

A Summary of Nine Country Studies

The populations of the Central, Eastern and Southern European countries are ageing very quickly. ERSTE Stiftung Study # 006 is the result of a cooperation project with the World Bank within the scope of the Generations in Dialogue series. It summarizes individual evaluations of the adequacy of retirement income in nine middle-income countries, including Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

A future for Prishtinas´s past

The photo brochure ‘A Future for Prishtina’s Past’ was distributed to Prishtina’s inhabitants in the three local languages of the city (Albanian, Serbian and Turkish). It contains brief descriptions of all the 21 protected monuments of the capital of Kosovo. The second ERSTE Stiftung Study in cooperation with the European Stability Initiative highlights this brochure and, in addition, contains a discussion paper.

The cost of non-Europe

Textile Towns and the Future of Serbia

The third part of the researching New Economic Geography is a story about the economic decline and social crisis of a formerly proud textile town in a country well-placed on the edge of the largest market for clothes and textiles in the world (the EU), but unable to take advantage of it. It is also a story about the costs of non-Europe in the Balkans. The town is Leskovac; the country is Serbia; and the key policy question is how it was possible that all of Serbia’s neighbours were winners in the global restructuring of the textile and clothing industry (TCI), while Serbia was a loser.

Long-Term Care in Central and South Eastern Europe

Status Quo – Challenges – Perspectives (Accessible Report)

Ageing has become one of the major socio-economic concerns in Europe and beyond in recent years. Within the scope of the project Generations in Dialogue, ERSTE Foundation and the Institute of Social Policy at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration have cooperated in this study that has taken up the challenge of collecting information on how citizens, private individuals and the state deal with the issue of long-term care. The project puts this information into perspective, compares and contrasts it and discusses the challenges and perspectives in the future of long-term care in this region. The project covers eight countries in Central and South Eastern Europe.