EC DG ECFIN, 2009

In 2006, the ECOFIN Council gave the Economic Policy Committee (EPC) a mandate to update its common exercise of age-related expenditure projections by the autumn of 2009 on the basis of a new population projection by Eurostat.

The projections of all expenditure items are made on the basis of common macroeconomic assumptions endorsed by the EPC and of a 'no policy change' assumption, i.e. reflecting only already enacted legislation. The report presents the expenditure projections covering pensions, health care, long-term care, education and unemployment transfers for all Member States.

The report is structured in two parts. The first describes the assumptions underlying the population projection, the labour force projection and the other macroeconomic assumptions. The second part presents the projection of expenditure on pensions, health care, long-term care, education and unemployment transfers. A statistical annex gives a country-by-country overview of the main assumptions and results.