EU Data
Data date of extract 08/2024
🇪🇺 EU Level
| Demographic | The share of the population above 65 years old in the EU is expected to
increase from 20% in 2019 to 29% by 2080 and the percentage of people above 80 years will more than
double to 13% in that time. A rapidly ageing population leads to an ever-growing need for long-term
formal and informal care.
Link/source: EIGE (2019) Gender equality and Long-Term Care at home |
| In 2017, one in four people in the EU had a long-term disability, a greater number of that group
being women (27%) than men (22%).
Link/source: EIGE (2019) Gender equality and Long-Term Care at home |
|
| In the EU, while women enjoy a higher life expectancy – 83.5 years compared to
78.3 years for men (a difference of 5.2 years in 2017) – this advantage is partially offset by the
fact that women spend more years in ill health. According to data from 2016, for example, women in
the EU spent, on average, approximately 20 years of their lives in poor health compared to 16 years
for men.
Link/source: EIGE (2019) Gender equality and Long-Term Care at home |
|
| In 2014, an average of 20% women and 14% of men aged 75 and over in the EU used
home care services.
Link/source: EIGE (2019) Gender equality and Long-Term Care at home |
|
| As of January 1, 2024, the EU population reached 449.3 million, with 21.6% aged 65 or older. The median age rose to 44.7 years.
Link/source: Eurostat (2024) Population Structure and Ageing |
|
| The old-age dependency ratio is expected to rise from 34.4% in 2019 to 56.9% by 2050. Forecasts highlight growing demand for long-term care, increasing expenditure on health and pensions, and shrinking workforce support. The report also outlines macroeconomic implications for public budgets, social protection, and the sustainability of eldercare systems.
Link/source: European Commission (2024). Ageing Report: Economic and budgetary projections for the EU Member States (2022–2070) |
| Employment in care work | Around 6.2 million people were professional care workers in 2022,
accounting for
around 3% of total EU employment.
Link/Source: Eurofound (2020) “Long-term care workforce: Employment and working conditions” |
| Across the EU, 12% of people aged 18 years or over who care for one
or more disabled or infirm family member, neighbour or friend, of any age, more than twice a
week.
Link/Source: Eurofound EQLS 2020 |
|
| While the population aged 65 or over will grow by 23% until 2035, the
projected employment growth in the care sector is just 7%.
Link/Source: CEDEFOP (2023) Care workers: skills opportunities and challenges |
|
| 150.000 care worker jobs were lost. Employment fully rebounded in the
following years, and by the end of 2022, it had 316 thousand workers above the pre-COVID-19
level.
Link/Source: Eurofound (2020) “Long-term care workforce: Employment and working conditions” |
|
| Professional care workers are mainly women. In 2021, only 12% of care
workers were men.
Link/Source: Eurofound (2020) “Long-term care workforce: Employment and working conditions” |
|
| Women represent 62% of all people providing informal long-term care
to older people or people with disabilities in the EU.
Link/Source: Eurofound (2020) “Long-term care workforce: Employment and working conditions” |
|
| 2 in 5 (42%) LTC workers work part-time, double the rate for the
entire workforce (19%). Many do so because they cannot find full-time work (30% in
non-residential LTC, 20% in residential LTC).
Link/Source: Eurofound (2020) “Long-term care workforce: Employment and working conditions” |
|
| 7 in 10 (71%) LTC workers indicate that they always ‘have the feeling
of doing useful work’, which is more than in healthcare (66%) and in the entire workforce
(50%).
Link/Source: Eurofound (2020) “Long-term care workforce: Employment and working conditions” |
|
| The number of persons potentially in need of
LTC in the EU27 is projected to rise from 30.8 million in 2019 to 33.7 million in 2030 and,
further, to 38.1 million in 2050. On average, 26.6% of people aged 65 or over living in private
households needed LTC in 2019.
Link/Source: Caritas (2023) Growing old with dignity |
|
| The challenges of long-term care in Europe | |
| The number of people aged over 80 years will climb from over 57
million in 2016 to over 1.2 billion in 2050 in 37 OECD countries. Keeping the current ratio of
five LTC workers for every 100 people aged 65 and older across OECD countries would imply that
the number of workers in the sector will need to increase by 13.5 million by 2040.
Link/Source: WHO “Progress report on the United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing, 2021-2023” |
|
| Most professional care workers – 68% in 2021 – are employed in the
health and social care sector.
Link/Source: CEDEFOP (2023) “Handling change with care” |
|
| The employment of professional care workers is projected
to increase between 2022 and 2035 slightly increase between 2022 and 2035
Link/Source: CEDEFOP (2023) “Handling change with care” |
|
| Employment in care roles is projected to increase to over 6.5 million jobs by 2035, with 3.9 million needed to replace retirees and leavers. Overall, approximately 4.3 million job openings are expected.
Link/Source: CEDEFOP (2023). Care workers: Skills, opportunities and challenges |
| Training and Education | Nearly 2 out of 3 of professional care workers (65%) attained a
qualification
level of ISCED 3 and 4 in 2021, equivalent to the level achieved after completing upper
secondary education. The occupation’s qualification level is not expected to change over the
period to 2035.
Link/Source: CEDEFOP (2023) Care workers: skills opportunities and challenges |
| 2 in 3 personal care workers hold medium-level qualifications, while
nurses typically have a diploma at a higher level (OECD, 2020). A notable share of care workers
has only completed elementary education (19% in 2022).
Link/Source: CEDEFOP (2023) Care workers: skills opportunities and challenges |
|
| Skills and knowledge that care employers want
(2022):- Transversal skills (adaptability;
teamwork; language skills);
– Task-related skills (working with
computers; planning and scheduling; providing assistance and care to people; managing and
coordinating);
– Soft skills (problem-solving;
coordinating activities with others; assume responsibility).
Link/Source: CEDEFOP (2023) Care workers: skills opportunities and challenges |
|
| LTC workers in Member States share similar characteristics. They tend to have a medium educational level: 61% have an upper secondary degree or completed post-secondary non-tertiary education, and 20% completed tertiary education. In relative terms, this is a sector with lower levels of education compared to the whole economy (for which the equivalent shares are 46% and 38%, respectively).
Link/Source: European Commission (2023). Addressing knowledge gaps in relation to the long-term care workforce. |
|
| Only one-fifth (1/5) of LTC workers participated recently in education or training courses. In more than a third of Member States (BE, BG, CY, CZ, FI, FR, IE, LU, PL, PT, SK), this share is below 20%.
Link/Source: European Commission (2023). Addressing knowledge gaps in relation to the long-term care workforce. |
|
| Some countries have not yet developed comprehensive continuing digital education and training programmes for the health and care workforce tied to broader digital health strategies. A survey from the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (WHO/EURO) for instance, showed that one in five (1/5) responding EU Member States in 2024 reported that no tertiary institutions in their country provided certified education in digital health for students of health sciences.
Link/Source: World Health Organization (WHO) (2023). Closing the digital skills gap in health care. |
| Quality of care | Two-fifths (40%) of LTC workers report lifting or moving people more than
three-quarters of the time (compared with 5% of all workers and 23% in healthcare). Many LTC workers
report handling infectious materials. LTC workers are less likely than healthcare workers to feel
well informed about health and safety.
Link/Source: Eurofound (2022) COVID-19 and older people: Impact on their lives, support and care. |
| In the EU, about 1 in 5 care recipients aged more than 50 had difficulty
obtaining adequate care from outside the household during the pandemic. Countries with longer
stay-at-home orders had more unmet needs.
Link/Source: Eurofound (2022) COVID-19 and older people: Impact on their lives, support and care. |
|
| Many LTC providers already use or are looking for ways to implement simple
technologies such as alarm systems, fall sensors, and GPS tracking of the movement of elderly
citizens in residential facilities or at home. Mobile devices with health apps can also support
remote monitoring of the elderly and may reduce time spent by workers in promoting patients’
self-care skills.
Link/Source: OECD (2020) Empowering the health workforce Strategies to make the most of the digital revolution |
|
| In long-term care, quality depends on an effective quality assurance mechanism, which in many Member States is lacking or is under-resourced. Quality assurance is often insufficient in home and community-based care. While quality of residential care is more regulated, quality standards often focus on clinical outcomes and do not sufficiently address the quality of life of people receiving care and their ability to live independently.
Link/Source: Council of the European Union. (2022). Council Recommendation of 8 December 2022 on access to affordable high-quality long-term care (2022/C 476/01) |
|
| When asked about their satisfaction with social protection in specific policy areas. Fewer than half of respondents think that they would have access to good-quality and affordable public services in any of these areas: education, public safety, health, employment, family support, long-term care for older people, disability/incapacity-related needs, and housing. When prioritising different policy areas, health services, old-age pensions, and long-term care services for older people stand out as areas in which respondents would like to improve provision and access to services.
Link/Source: OECD (2024) Society at a Glance 2024: OECD Social Indicators. |
|
The Council Recommendation on access to affordable high-quality long-term care identifies that the following principles should guide the development of quality frameworks for LTC, irrespective of the legal status of care providers and the care setting in which they operate:
Link/Source: World Health Organization (WHO) (2024). State of long-term care: A conceptual framework for assessment and continuous learning in long-term care systems. |
| Emerging trends | Low-tech e-healthcare (such as phone consultations) improved access to
healthcare,
but 56% of people aged 50+ who required a consultation still opted for face-to-face
consultations, as they preferred this over available e-healthcare options. 49% of people aged
50+ who used e-healthcare felt it did not fully meet their needs. In long-term care, the role of
e-care remains limited.
Link/Source: Eurofound (2022) COVID-19 and older people: Impact on their lives, support and care |
| In platform work within LTC, an online platform is used to enable
organizations or individuals seeking to provide LTC services with those needing assistance.
Compensation is based on the completion of individual tasks or projects rather than continuous
employment.
Link/Source: Eurofound (2022) COVID-19 and older people: Impact on their lives, support and care |
| Workforce mobility | In 2018, almost 2 million health and LTC workers in the EU-27 were foreign-born, either in another EU Member State (693,700) or outside the EU (1.3 million) (Kalantaryan ). However, LTC workers represent only a limited share of this group. Eurofound (2020) reports that some 8 % of the EU’s LTC workforce is made up of ‘foreign workers’, with more workers from outside (4.5%) than from within the EU (3.5 %). In total, this means that there are around half a million formal mobile/migrant LTC workers in the EU. Moreover, LTC subsectors are highly dependent on foreign labour (e.g. live-in care).
Link/source: European Parliament, Directorate-General for Internal Policies (2021). Policies for long-term care in the EU. |
| Skills and competences | The WHO has outlined three key objectives and corresponding capacities that define the development of a climate-smart health and care workforce. These objectives are designed to cultivate the skills and competencies necessary for building three essential forms of capacity:
(i) workforce capacity, i.e. strengthening the ability of the health and care workforce to effectively respond to climate-related health risks. Key elements include:
a. educating and training enough health professionals in areas such as climate resilience, environmental determinants and GHG emissions reduction;
b. developing policies that support climate-resilient, health-promoting systems;
c. implementing low-carbon healthcare practices in facility operations, supply chains and in-service delivery.
(ii) organizational capacity, i.e. promoting practices at the healthcare facility level and in community-based settings to manage acute shocks and develop innovative approaches to reduce GHG emissions. Specific measures include:
a. establishing healthcare “green” teams to share best practices and drive innovation; and
b. creating new roles, tasks and profiles, co-designed with front-line health professionals to ensure alignment with existing responsibilities and systems.
(iii) capacity for information, awareness-raising and communication, i.e. educating and training health professionals to convey climate-related health risks to decision-makers, the media and community leaders, for example by:
a. promoting awareness of the connection between climate change and health outcomes across all levels of society.
Link/Source: Eurofund (2022) COVID-19 and older people: Impact on their lives, support and care |
| Participants were asked to rate, on a scale of 1 to 5 (1=not proficient at all; 5=very proficient), the skills of carers in their area, in terms of soft skills, green skills, entrepreneurial skills, and digital skills. The scores for each skill were averaged and found that for soft skills, participants rated themselves as quite proficient (3.4). The lowest score was for green skills, with a score of 3.
Link/Source: Cansu Seden, Pauline Gouttefarde (2025) EU Blueprint: The visioning of the to-be elderly care providers |
|
| Participants assessed on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 not at all; 5= strongly) their familiarity, importance, relevancy and applicability of green skills. Although they felt they were unfamiliar with the concept (avg = 2.6), they judged the skills to be important (4.2), relevant (3.5) and applicable (3.5).
Link/Source: Cansu Seden, Pauline Gouttefarde (2025) EU Blueprint: The visioning of the to-be elderly care providers |
|
| Participants assessed on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 not at all; 5= strongly) their familiarity, importance, relevancy and applicability of entrepreneurial skills. They felt more familiar with the concept than green skills (avg = 3.2 vs 2.6), and they judged the skills to be important (4.1), relevant (3.9) and applicable (3.8).
Link/Source: Cansu Seden, Pauline Gouttefarde (2025) EU Blueprint: The visioning of the to-be elderly care providers |
|
| Upskilling and reskilling training for carers: considered relevant and beneficial. Average scores on a scale from 1 to 5 (1=not interesting at all; and 5=very interesting) reveal that participants consider themselves very interested in a possible upskilling and reskilling for carers (average 4.5). A few differences can be observed between countries: the lowest average is 4.2 in the Czech Republic, and the highest is 4.8 in Spain. Participants from different European countries are interested in upskilling and reskilling.
Link/Source: Cansu Seden, Pauline Gouttefarde (2025) EU Blueprint: The visioning of the to-be elderly care providers |
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From the group interviews conducted in the countries targeted by the report, one of the key findings was the need to develop new soft skills, including:
Link/Source: Cansu Seden, Pauline Gouttefarde (2025) EU Blueprint: The visioning of the to-be elderly care providers |
| Policy and Regulation | This Skills Partnership aims to contribute to the practical implementation of the European Care Strategy, in particular in the area of soft (person-centred) and digital skills. The headline target of this Skills Partnership is to contribute to and enable the training of at least 60% of LTC professionals every year, paid for or provided by their employer, including on areas related to digitalisation and person-centred care by 2030.
Link/source: European Commission (2024). Skills Partnership for the Long-Term Care Workforce. |
Disclaimer
“Not all LTC is provided by paid professionals, and it is important to reflect that informal carers are also part of the LTC workforce. Informal carers are defined as any person who provides – usually – unpaid care to someone with a chronic illness, disability or other long-lasting health or care need, outside a professional or formal framework. This typically includes family members, partners/spouses, friends and neighbours. Informal carers are sometimes referred to as family carers, or unpaid carers, depending on the context.”