Population aging and public health expenditure mainly dedicated to older dependent persons present major challenges for the European Union (EU) Member States, with profound implications for their economies and labor markets. Sustainable economic development relies on a well-balanced workforce of young and older people. As this balance shifts in favor of older people, productivity tends to suffer, on the one hand, and the older group demands more from health services, on the other hand. These requisites tend to manifest differently within developed and developing EU countries. This research aimed to assess population aging impacts on labor market coordinates (employment rate, labor productivity), in the framework of several health dimensions (namely, health government expenditure, hospital services, healthy life years, perceived health) and other economic and social factors. The analytical approach consisted of applying structural equation models, Gaussian graphical models, and macroeconometric models (robust regression and panel corrected standard errors) to EU panel data for the years 1995–2017. The results show significant dissimilarities between developed and developing EU countries, suggesting the need for specific policies and strategies for the labor market integration of older people, jointly with public health expenditure, with implications for EU labor market performance.

Like most of the countries around the world, European member states are suffering from the declining population, due to low birth rates and decreasing death rates. Romania’s population is undergoing a series of changes that will continue to unfold in the foreseeable future. Demographic transitions are taking place in the case of all member states that are part of EU-28, with various degrees of intensity. Romania’s population has been shrinking and undergoing a continuous process of erosion since 1992 when it hit a peak of 23.2 million. Under the influence of a decreasing birth rate and death rate, the population is projected to decrease from 19.8 million in 2015 to 14.5 million in 2080. This article examines how these inevitable changes will shape Romania's demographic landscape, with an emphasis on the changes over time suffered by the total population, birth rates, and life expectancy, as seen through the ”Demographic Transition Model” stages as put forward by Thompson in 1929. Also, this article will touch upon some of the main economic consequences that arise as a result of these demographic transitions.