Economy

Government must act to insulate economy from ageing population, says Gabriel Makhlouf

Central Bank governor said the state needs to protect the economy from the ageing population while funds are more readily available

Gabriel Makhlouf, Central Bank governor: “The demographic dividend which has underpinned growth in the Irish economy over the last 50 years is fading and will ebb further as the population ages rapidly from the end of this decade.” Picture: Sam Baol

Ireland must act now to counter the impact the country’s ageing demographic will soon have on the economy, Gabriel Makhlouf, the governor of the Central Bank, has warned.

In Europe, Ireland’s old-age dependency ratio of 23.1 per cent is currently well behind the EU average of 33 per cent.

Further data from Eurostat has also shown that the median age in Ireland was 38.8 in 2022, which was 3.8 years higher than in 2012, but ...