Demographic outlook on "right to stay" : beyond the Letta report

This report examines the demographic elements associated with the "right to stay" concept, as introduced by Enrico Letta. It has a particular focus on how demographic decline and migration patterns intersect and influence one another at European, national, regional and local levels. The findings show that the demographic divergence across regions is largely driven by migration dynamics. These dynamics cannot be reduced to the simple notion of youth emigrating due to a lack of economic opportunities, but rather are the result of a complex set of factors and motivations that vary across different contexts and life stages. The report concludes that EU policies, particularly the Cohesion policy, have a crucial role to play in breaking the self-reinforcing cycle of demographic and economic decline at the regional level. Ultimately, to break this cycle, it is not enough to simply mitigate the effects of population change. Instead, targeted adaptation measures implemented through territorial policies are necessary to provide support to regions that are disproportionately affected by the consequences of demographic change.