The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) has recently published a report showing that in order to meet the demands of an ageing society, the EU’s health and long-term care workforce will need to grow by 11 million workers between 2018 and 2030.

In 2018, there were almost two million health and long-term care workers in the EU working in a country other than their country of birth. The JRC report recommends integrating current labour migration channels with more specific considerations for health and long-term care systems, while keeping in line with the WHO Global Code of Practice.

This could foster mobility flows, with benefits for countries of origin and destination. It would also facilitate recognition of qualifications and full activation of skills of the EU’s migrant workforce.

The Commission has taken a series of policy initiatives to support EU countries to address the challenges of an ageing population and the impact on the health and long-term care sectors, including the first steps towards a European Health Union. Other Commission initiatives are the recent Green Paper on Ageing and the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan which will be launched soon. 

Read the full report here.