The population of the European Union will continue to age throughout this century, with the median age of EU residents increasing by 6.6 years to reach 51.5 years by 2100, according to Eurostat data.
According to the study, the EU population will grow from 451.8 million in 2025 to a peak of 453.3 million in 2029, after which it will begin to gradually decline—to 445 million by 2050 and to 398.8 million by 2100. Thus, over the period 2025–2100, the total population decline will amount to 53 million people, or 11.7%.
Eurostat notes that the main consequence of current birth and death rates in the EU is the progressive aging of the population. At the same time, the number of people aged 65 and older in the EU is expected to more than double by the end of the century.
At the same time, the share of young people and the working-age population will decline. The share of people aged 20–64 is projected to decline from 61% of the EU population in 2025 to 49.7% in 2100, and their number will decrease by 63.6 million—from 262 million to 198.4 million.
At the same time, the share of the population aged 65 and older will rise from 12.4% at the start of 2025 to 33.6% in 2100, and the size of this age group will increase by 65.9 million people—to 133.8 million. In essence, this is the only major demographic group that will grow significantly in both relative and absolute terms.
Eurostat emphasizes that the aging process will affect all EU countries, although its pace will vary. The most significant increase in the median age of the population is expected in Malta, Cyprus, Ireland, Luxembourg, Lithuania, and Poland.
Disruptions in global oil supplies caused by the war in Iran have led to an increase in the cost of long-haul flights from Europe by more than $100 per passenger, according to the European Federation for Transport and Environment (T&E).
According to its data, rising aviation fuel prices have increased airlines’ costs by an average of 88 euros ($104) per passenger on long-haul flights from Europe and by 29 euros on flights within Europe. For example, fuel for a flight from Barcelona to Berlin will cost €26 more per passenger, and on the route from Paris to New York, it will cost €129 more.
T&E compared prices as of April 16 with the cost of flights immediately before the start of the war between the U.S. and Israel against Iran. The group calculated the average fuel consumption for all routes departing from European airports and divided it by the number of departing passengers.
The calculations showed that the additional costs associated with the spike in fuel prices far exceed the costs airlines incur to comply with the European Union’s climate change policies. “The crisis in the Middle East proves that our real vulnerability lies in a tank filled with foreign oil, not in laws designed to fix it,” said T&E Aviation Director Diana Vitti.
According to Serbian Economist, Serbia is increasingly becoming a key industrial platform for China to enter the European market. This is no longer a matter of scattered investments, but rather a well-established system that integrates metallurgy, mining, transport infrastructure, and export channels.
A turning point was the acquisition by the Chinese company HBIS of the steel plant in Smederevo in 2016 for approximately €46 million, followed by investments in modernization. The second major flagship project was Zijin Mining’s expansion in Serbia’s copper sector—in Bora and at the Čukaru-Peki deposit, where total investment commitments exceeded €3 billion. This allowed Serbia to take a more prominent place in the European steel and copper supply chain.
Analysts emphasize that Chinese capital in Serbia controls several links in the industrial chain at once: copper mining, processing and smelting, steel production, and the export of products to European markets. Against this backdrop, Serbia is increasingly acting not merely as a recipient of foreign investment, but as a functional extension of China’s industrial base within the European economic space.
This is also reflected in trade. By 2025, China had become Serbia’s second-largest trading partner, with bilateral trade exceeding $7 billion. At the same time, a significant portion of exports from Serbia to China is provided by Chinese companies operating in the country, primarily in the copper and metallurgical sectors.
Infrastructure plays a distinct role. Analysts link the new model to projects under the Belt and Road Initiative, including the Belgrade–Budapest railway, bridges, highways, and logistics hubs. In this system, Serbia serves as a transit hub between Piraeus, the Balkans, and Central Europe, reducing transportation costs and speeding up deliveries to the EU.
In addition to metals, China’s presence is expanding in the manufacturing sector as well. Consider the Linglong tire plant in Zrenjanin, valued at around €900 million, as well as projects by Hisense in Valjevo and the Minth Group in the automotive components sector. These manufacturers leverage Serbia’s lower costs and its trade preferences for supplying the EU market.
The country’s trade architecture has been an additional factor. Serbia combines preferential access to the EU market with a free trade agreement with China, which entered into force in 2024. As a result, the country has become a rare hub where Chinese capital can operate simultaneously under both European and non-European trade regimes.
At the same time, this model faces new constraints. The importance of the energy transition and the CBAM mechanism is growing, which could increase costs for Serbia’s energy-intensive export sectors. This is pushing Chinese investors toward the next phase—investments in renewable energy, storage, and grid infrastructure—to maintain the competitiveness of assets in Serbia on the European market.
Thus, Serbia is increasingly establishing itself as an industrial and logistics hub between China and Europe. However, the further development of this role will depend on Belgrade’s ability to simultaneously retain Chinese capital and adapt to the EU’s stricter regulatory requirements.
Nova Post Europe, part of the NOVA Group, plans to double its network of branches in Europe by 2026 and keep its strategy focused on ensuring maximum delivery speed, said Vyacheslav Klimov, co-owner of the express delivery leader Nova Post.
“I believe Nova Post is the only company capable of delivering a package from Berlin to Warsaw the next day. Accessibility—we already have more than 300 branches across Europe. And we will continue this expansion in 2026: by 2026, the network will double,“ Klimov said at the ”Dialogues with NV” event dedicated to European integration in Kyiv on Thursday, according to a correspondent for the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
According to him, the company has achieved its greatest success in Moldova, and overall, Nova Post is already operating profitably in 5 out of 16 markets, even though the first European branch in Warsaw was opened only in October 2023.
“None of the 16 markets we’ve entered behave the same way. At least in our business, the essence of the European Union is that it is by no means a unified structure in terms of consumer habits: every country has local leaders—very tenacious and very strong. And in each of these markets, you have to make local decisions. That is, think globally, but work and think about how to satisfy the consumer exclusively locally,” Klimov emphasized.
He added that in the global market, no one cares about a company’s origin, so you can only win the competition by offering faster, more accessible, and more reliable services.
Among the obstacles to development, the founder of the NOVA Group cited the National Bank of Ukraine’s limit on financing business abroad at $1 million per month.
Klimov also views as a risk the fact that combining European requirements with Ukrainian bureaucratic procedures could create additional difficulties for the development of Ukrainian business; among other things, he is cautious about the requirements to establish a transport regulator in Ukraine.
Nova Post Europe processed 13 million international shipments in 2025 and plans to increase this volume by over 30% in 2026 and maintain this pace through 2030, Nova Post Europe CEO Oleksandr Lysovets previously stated in an interview with Forbes Ukraine. According to him, these plans will be supported by a new phase of European expansion with investments exceeding $5 million.
The main activity of Nova Poshta, the core asset of the NOVA Group, is express delivery of documents, parcels, and palletized oversized cargo. Its ultimate beneficial owners are Volodymyr Poperechnyuk and Klimov.
The Tea&Food division of Biosphere Corporation, represented by the Graff and Ritz Barton brands, increased its production and sales by 2.5 times compared to the previous year, according to the company’s press service.
According to the report, sales volume increased from 1.4 million packs in 2024 to 3.5 million packs in 2025. Monthly turnover at the end of the year exceeded UAH 35 million, and the Graff brand entered the top 4 tea brands in Ukraine in terms of sales volume in retail chains. The company’s share of the domestic tea market is estimated at 5%.
“The growth of our tea business was driven by a strong marketing strategy and the development of relationships with major retail chains. The next step in our development is international expansion,” said Andriy Zdesenko, founder and CEO of Biosphere Corporation.
CupSoul CEO Iryna Broslavtseva emphasized the brand’s readiness to compete in foreign markets.
“The quality of our tea has been recognized not only by Ukrainian consumers, but also by numerous awards, including international ones. This proves that we are creating a European-quality product in Ukraine that can be competitive in foreign markets,” the press service quoted Broslavtseva as saying.
CupSoul, which is responsible for the tea division within the corporation, added that at the end of 2025, it began exporting Graff tea to Spain. During 2026, it plans to enter the Canadian market and further expand in Europe, particularly in Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic, where the trademark has already been registered.
Despite a rocket attack on the production complex in Dnipro in the spring of 2025, which damaged the workshop and destroyed raw material stocks, the company resumed production within a month. Currently, the tea range includes 124 items. Over the past year, the brand has received a number of professional awards, including the Red Dot Award for packaging design and bronze awards at the Effie Awards Ukraine.
Biosphere Corporation is a leading manufacturer and distributor of household and personal hygiene products in Ukraine and one of the leaders in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Its production facilities consist of six modern factories in Ukraine and two in Europe. Its portfolio of 25 brands includes Freken BOK, Smile, Novita, Lady Cotton, PRO service, Alufix, Vortex, Graff, and others, with about 2,000 SKUs. According to the release, Biosphere products are represented in more than 25 countries and over 100 retail chains, including METRO, Auchan, Spar, Billa, Carrefour, Albert, and Hofer.
The founder and CEO of the corporation is Andriy Zdesenko.
The House of Europe program has announced an open grant competition, Culture Helps Solidarity, for cultural initiatives that help Ukrainians integrate into European communities and support the reintegration of veterans through culture.
The amount of support is up to €20,000 for a project with one partner and up to €30,000 for a project with two or more partners. Grant funds can cover fees, travel, production, marketing, rent, and operational activities.
Non-profit cultural organizations officially registered in Ukraine and participating countries with experience working with displaced persons or veterans are eligible to participate. In addition to the EU, the list of eligible jurisdictions for partners includes Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, and a number of countries in the region, including Serbia, which expands opportunities for Ukrainian organizations to cooperate with partners outside the EU.
Applications will be accepted until March 31, 2026 (2:00 p.m. Kyiv time), and the results of the competition are expected to be announced by the end of May. A total of 15 projects are expected to receive funding, with a deadline for implementation of May 31, 2027. Applications must be submitted online in English. There is no application fee for the competition.
