Antoine Renard, President of the Brussels-based Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe Young people in Europe need political support to start families in countries with aging populations, a Catholic campaign group has said. While “young people want to form lasting relationships and have children,” they “don’t feel safe” to start families, said Antoine Renard, president of the Brussels-based Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe.
“Unless something is done rapidly, Europe risks a total demographic collapse,” Renard said after the federation called on European Union governments to “put the family at the centre of national policies”.
Young people are “often discouraged by inadequate and individualistic policies and cultures which are hostile to the family,” the federation said in a statement at the end of its spring meeting in Vienna.
The European Union had 1.58 live births per woman in 2015.