Demographic Sovereignty: Why Demography Is Becoming a Question of the Future

While AI, climate and geopolitics dominate the global agenda, demographic change receives far less attention. Yet it is demography that largely determines what society and the economy will look like in 20 years' time.

In the new episode of the Summer Expert Meetings of the Open Dialogue, Maxim Oreshkin, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office of the Russian Federation, and Open Dialogue finalist from Serbia, UNRAD coordinator Jelena Milićević-Proroković, discuss demographic challenges, shifts in employment structure and the role of the family in long-term social development.

Key points from the conversation:

— Russia is among the countries with the lowest unemployment rates. But is high employment enough for sustainable economic growth?

— Life expectancy is increasing, yet around 30% of working-age people have no children and do not plan to have any. How does this change society and the economy?

— Why does demographic policy remain on the margins of international discussion, and should it occupy a more prominent place on the global agenda?

Jelena Milićević-Proroković proposes restoring the family as a priority in the system of public values, including through cultural projects. Maxim Oreshkin speaks of "demographic sovereignty" — a country's ability to create conditions in which people can freely realise their desire to start a family and have children.

Demography is not just about birth rates and life expectancy statistics. It is about what society, the labour market and the economy will look like in the coming decades.