CONTAMINANTES
Low birthrates pose challenge for Europe: Businesses in Europe, which for the past half century have had the luxury of selling their products to an expanding consumer base, today face stagnant or shrinking markets. Carlo De Benedetti, the Italian tycoon and financier, says that increasing a company's market share is becoming much more difficult. "The size of the cake is going to shrink," he said. De Benedetti, who created a foundation in the 1990s to study the effects of aging in Europe, said in an interview that European governments were for the most part ignoring the problem. "In practical terms nothing has been done, or just very, very marginally," he said.
"Large companies throughout Europe are perfectly aware that there are two consequences to the problem if it is not tackled in a short period of time," De Benedetti said. "Higher taxes and higher social contributions."
Serious as the challenges are, Europe's "demographic crisis" is not at the top of the agenda of the European Union.