Informal carers are a major source of care for people with LTC needs across OECD countries. Among 19 OECD countries analysed, about 60% of older people reported receiving only informal care (Rocard and Llena-Nozal, 2022[1]). Informal care is provided by family members, friends and people in social networks to individuals who need support with everyday tasks. Due to the informal nature of care, comparable data are difficult to obtain. The data discussed in this section stem from international and national surveys. There are differences in the definition of informal care across these surveys, which affects the comparability of the data (see the “Definition and comparability” box).
Across OECD countries, more than one in eight (13%) people aged 50 and over provided informal care, ranging from 5% in Latvia to more than 20% in Austria and Belgium (Figure 10.15). On average, 6.3% of survey respondents across these countries indicated that they provide informal care on a daily basis, compared to 6.9% providing care on a weekly basis. The percentage share of those providing daily care was highest in Belgium and Germany (9.4%), and lowest in Latvia and Sweden (3%). Among OECD countries, the share of those providing weekly care was highest in Belgium (14.8), and lowest for Latvia (2%).
Informal carers are predominantly women. Across 26 OECD countries, 61% of informal carers were women, ranging from 53% in Spain to 73% in Latvia (Figure 10.16). The share of women was particularly high in Latvia, Lithuania and Greece, where more than 70% of daily informal carers were women. Across OECD accession countries (Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania), 60% or more of informal carers are women.
On average across 24 OECD countries, 11% of daily carers reported being employed or self-employed (outside the informal care they also provide), ranging from more than one‑third in the United Kingdom (40%) and Portugal (36%) to a low of 10% or fewer in Luxembourg and the Slovak Republic (Figure 10.17).
Intense provision of informal care is associated with negative effects on mental health and labour market participation, such as a reduction of hours worked and earlier retirement. The estimated impact of informal caregiving and labour market attrition on economic growth reaches 0.5% in annualised terms (Barszczewski et al., forthcoming[2]). About two‑thirds of OECD countries have introduced policies to support informal workers and to alleviate the burden of informal care – such as cash benefits paid to carers, those in need of care or both. In addition, about half of OECD countries offer some form of paid leave for informal carers, although this does not necessarily make up for forgone wages. The degree to which countries can depend on informal care as a dominant provider of LTC is likely to decline in the future. Demand for LTC will increase due to population ageing and subsequent increases in LTC needs (see section on “Demographic trends’”). At the same time, declines in family size, increases in geographical mobility and increasing female labour market participation are leading to reductions in the supply of informal carers. Countries will therefore have to expand their formal LTC sectors to compensate for unmet care needs.
