No. 8

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The Key Issues of Demographic Policy

18 December 2003

Studies

RiTo No. 8, 2003

Population policy is in need of clear strategic goals so that we would not be running headlong in several directions at once or get bogged down in petty bickering that might well result in short-term gains but are pointless or even harmful in the long run.

The document being prepared delineates three mutually complementary objectives. First of all: to achieve the rise in the birth rate to the replacement rate. Second: to increase longevity and the viable lifespan to at least the average European level. Third: to achieve a sound gender and demographic structure in the population in all parts of Estonia.

The common denominator for the most important demographic policy measures and actions based on those policies, is a fusion of family life and professional life. Not work or children, but work and children – this is the idea that is now again making inroads in society. It is undisputedly a constructive model and one worth supporting on a state level. Human life is an integral whole. We have no hope of surviving as a people and getting ahead in the world if we do not eliminate the conflicts between the typical person’s two basic desires, one of which is the need for posterity to carry on their legacy. To a conscientious person, this means being prepared to raise one’s offspring oneself. The other basic need is self-improvement and self-actualization, applying one’s skills, which leads directly to self-economizing. These needs are part and parcel and should be treated that way in everyday practice as well.

Full article in Estonian

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