September 2025| No. 503

We are living increasingly longer and healthier lives – excellent news for all of us. However, this longevity, combined with a persistently low birth rate, is reconfiguring the demographic structure of our societies. In our latest Dossier, we analyse this important demographic shift, as well as its impact on growth, public finances, and savings and interest rates. We also analyse in depth other topical issues, such as the adjustment of the ECB’s monetary policy strategy and operational framework, the European Union’s 2025-2028 budget and the feasibility of it increasing defence spending to 5% of GDP. In the sphere of the Spanish economy, we lay out the causes of departures from employment and the evolution of the incomes of the middle class in recent years.