This report provides an overview of population trends, living conditions and social coherence in the European Union. It seeks to portray the social dimension of the enlarged Union, looking at both social trends and emerging policy challenges.

The Lisbon Summit highlighted social policy as a core element in Europe's strategy for becoming 'the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with better jobs and greater social cohesion' by 2010. The present report, a joint...