National Data
Data date of extract 08/2024
🇦🇹 Austria
| Demographic | In 2021 just over 2/3 of the population were of working age (between 15 and 64,
66.2%), while around 19% were over 64, i.e. of retirement age.
Link/Source: Census 2021 Austria (statistik. at) |
 |
| In the period 2019-2050, the share of people aged 65+ in Austria is
expected to grow from 18.8% to 27.2% (compared to a rise from 20% to 28.5% for the EU-28)
Link/Source: https://eurocarers.org/country-profiles/austria/ |
|
|
| In the period 2019-2050, the share of people aged 85+ is expected to
more than double, from 2.5% to 5.8%
Link/Source: https://eurocarers.org/country-profiles/austria/ |
|
| Employment in care work | The proportion of part-time employed people aged 15 to 64 among employees
working
in the “Health and Welfare” sector is well above average for both women (63.4%) and men
(31.7%).
Link/Source: Census 2021 Austria (statistik. at) |
|
| By 2030, roughly 76,000 more professional care workers would be
necessary to meet the needs of care receivers in Austria – 42,000 solely due to the retirement
of care workers.
Link/Source: abstract_hanzl_momentum_kongress.pdf (momentum-kongress.org) |
|
|
| According to SHARE/OECD data, the estimated number of informal carers
in Austria amounts to more than 800.000
people (about 7% of the total population)
Link/Source: Austria – Eurocarers |
|
|
| Informal care remains the main form of care
provision in Austria, with an estimated 7% 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.
This trend persists despite the substantial expansion of institutional care services over the
last two decades.
Link/Source: Austria – Eurocarers | Eurofound, EQLS 2020 |
|
|
| 22% of women report have had to reduce working time or give up their
jobs entirely due to care responsibilities, compared to 3% of men.
Link/Source: Centre.org |
|
| Quality of care | 33% of individuals believe they are unlikely to receive appropriate help
when
needed, with a significantly higher level of mistrust among women (38%) compared to men
(21.5%).
Link/Source: Centre.org |
|
| Policy and regulation | In Austria, there is currently no clearly defined and integrated quality
framework, covering the different sectors of LTC. The ‘15a agreement’ on LTC between the Federal
Republic and the federal provinces only defines rather general quality criteria and leaves
considerable room for interpretation. On the sub-national level, the federal provinces enacted
more detailed regulation to promote the quality of LTC services. The main instruments are the
federal provinces’ legislations concerning the minimum income schemes, nursing home acts (five
federal provinces) or nursing home decrees (four federal provinces), and specific directives on
the organisation and implementation of different LTC services.
Link/Source: European Commission’s 2021 LTC report country profiles |
|
🇧🇬 Bulgaria
| Demographic | By the end of 2022, the number of persons aged 65 and over is 1,515,383,
or 23.5%
of the country’s population. Compared to 2021, the share of the population aged 65 and over
increases by 0.1 percentage points
Link/Source: Population and Demographic Processes in 2022 (nsi.bg) |
|
| In the period 2020-2060, the share of people aged 80+ in the
Bulgarian population is expected almost to double. Over the same period, the old age dependency
ratio was defined as the ratio of the number of older people at an age when they are generally
economically inactive (aged 65 years and over) compared with the number of people of working age
(15-64 years), will rise from 34.3% to 56.1%
Link/Source: Bulgaria – Eurocarers |
|
| Employment care work | In 2016, the number of LTC workers providing informal care at home was 1 per 100 individuals aged 65 and over, 87.7% of whom were women.
Link/Source: Bulgaria – Eurocarers |
 |
| Informal carers represent 8% of the population (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 |
|
|
| In Bulgaria, there is no established information system for collecting data on professional carers providing long-term care, and even less information about the number of people providing informal care. But there is little doubt that informal carers in families provide the overwhelming bulk of LTC.
Link/Source: Bulgaria – Eurocarers |
|
| Quality of the Long Term Care services | Social services are regulated by the Social Services Act (SSA). The
SSA establishes a new Agency for the Quality of Social Services at the Ministry of Labour and
Social Policy. The new structure will monitor how municipalities and private providers are delivering social services and spending state funds. Its objective is to verify compliance with the rights of users of social services, monitor national performance and license all private
social services providers. It will create common standards for providers but, at the same time,
will give them the freedom to develop their own practices and relationships between
professionals, children and parents, since the system was previously highly restricted by
methodological guidelines.
Link/Source: European Commission’s 2021 LTC report country profiles |
|
| Policy and regulation | The action plan for the implementation of the National Strategy for
Long-Term Care for the period 2018-2021 established in 2018, aims to address some of the
challenges identified in the strategic document for LTC in Bulgaria, such as the development of
quality standards for social services for older people and people with disabilities. However,
implementation of these measures is yet to be seen and evaluated. There is ongoing
implementation of the ‘New Standards for Social Services’ project; an important activity
involving the development of quality standards with objective and measurable criteria and
indicators and a monitoring and control system of the services.
Link/Source: European Commission’s 2021 LTC report country profiles |
|
| The action plan for the implementation of the National
Strategy for Long-Term Care for the period 2018-2021 established in 2018, aims to address some
of the challenges identified in the strategic document for LTC in Bulgaria, such as the
development of quality standards for social services for older people and people with
disabilities. However, implementation of these measures is yet to be seen and evaluated.
Link/Source: European Commission’s 2021 LTC report country profiles |
|
| Training and skills | Since January 2019, the Personal
Assistance
Act assistants (which can be family members of the
disabled person, part of the extended family circle, or those outside) can receive training from
the municipalities, but it is not mandatory.
Link/Source: Bulgaria – Eurocarers |
|
| The SSA introduced entirely free support and training services for
family members who provide informal care at home for people with permanent disabilities and for
people with disabilities over the working age who are unable to look after themselves.
Link/Source: Bulgaria – Eurocarers |
|
🇨🇿 Czech Republic
| Demographic | The proportion of population aged 65 and over 20.5% AND is projected
to
increase to 30.4% by 2060.
Link/Source: Czech Republic – Eurocarers |
|
| In the period 2016 to 2070, the old-age dependency ratio i.e. the
share of the population aged 65 and above as a % of the population aged 20-64 is projected to
rise from 30.1% (EU-28: 32.2%) to 54.8% (EU-28: 56.4%) i.e. 24.7 pps. Most of this increase is
driven by the old-age dependency ratio (people aged 80 and above relative to those aged
15-64).
Link/Source: Czech Republic – Eurocarers |
|
|
| The number of recipients of the care allowance increased from 260,000
in 2007 to almost 350,000 in 2016.
Link/Source: Czech Republic – Eurocarers |
|
| Employment care | Informal carers represent 9% of the population (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 |
|
| Social care is mainly provided by informal carers and professional
social services. Professional carers of social services can be registered or
unregistered.
Link/Source: Czech Republic – Eurocarers |
|
| Training and skills | As of April 2020, there were a total of 318 registered respite care
services/providers in the Czech Republic. Among these, 230 were specifically aimed at older
individuals aged 65 and over. There is a notable absence of education and counselling for
informal carers.
Link/Source: Czech Republic – Eurocarers |
|
| Certified educational seminars (funded by the Continued
Education Fund) were organized in regions and towns for informal carers and professionals
working in social services, municipal administration, and labor offices.
Link/Source: Czech Republic – Eurocarers |
|
🇬🇷 Greece
| Demographic | In the period 2019-2050 the share of people aged 65+ in the Greek
population is
expected to grow from 22% to 33.8% (EU-28: 20%-28.5%), with most of the growth happening before
2032. At the same time, the share of people 85+ will more than double from 3.3% to 7% (EU-28:
2.7%-6.1%).
Link/Source: Greece – Eurocarers |
|
| the percentage of 65+ compared to the population of 15-64-year-olds
will rise from 34.1% (EU-28: 30.5%) to 67.1% (EU-28: 55.3%).
Link/Source: Greece – Eurocarers |
|
| Employment care work | In 2019, there were on average five LTC workers per 100 people aged
65 or older in 28 OECD Member countries, ranging from 13 workers per 100 older people in Norway
to less than one per 100 older people in Greece, Poland and Portugal.
Link/Source: OECD (2022) Providing long-term care: Options for a better workforce |
 |
| Informal carers represent 10% of the population (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 |
|
| Policy and regulation | Social insurance funds provide disability pensions and allowances. Other
(non-contributory) disability benefits (in cash and in kind) are provided by social welfare
institutions to persons who are in need of care because of a specific chronic illness or
incapacity. According to 2011 administrative data (referred to in OECD 2013), about 60% of
disability benefit recipients (either insurance or assistance-based) were above 50 years of
age.
Link/Source: Greece – Eurocarers |
|
| There is no national or sub-national definition of LTC quality in
Greece neither in the context of the healthcare sector nor of the social sector. This is
congruent to the fact that the system is strongly based on informal LTC and, consequently,
formal services play rather a residual role in the provision of LTC in Greece. Along with the
absence of a definition of LTC quality, there is also a lack of a general LTC quality framework
that would apply to all types of support (residential or home care) and to all kinds of
providers (public or private, for-profit/ not-for-profit); neither is there a general healthcare
and social services quality framework that applies to LTC.
Link/Source: European Commission’s 2021 LTC report country profiles |
|
|
| Articles 24-55 in part III of the Law 4808/2021, published on the
19th June 2021 and which is the transposition of the EU Directive on Work-Life Balance defines
for the first time the concept of informal carer as “an employee who provides personal care or
support to a relative or person who resides in the same household as the employee and who is in
need of significant care or support for a serious medical reason.”
Link/Source: Greece – Eurocarers |
|
| Education and training | The only support services available to informal carers are those provided
by a few
NGOs, operating mainly in Athens and other big cities and offering – among other things –
information, practical advice, psychological/emotional support and training.
Link/Source: Greece – Eurocarers |
|
🇪🇸 Spain
| Demographic | In the period 2013-2060 the share of people aged 80+ in the Spanish
population is
expected to grow from 5.5% to 14.9% (EU-28: 5.1%-11.8%)
Link/Source: https://eurocarers.org/country-profiles/spain/ |
|
| Employment care work | Spain has one of the highest prevalence of informal carers, with 13% 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 |
|
| Spanish legislation on the Promotion of Personal Autonomy and
Attention to people in a situation of dependency (Law 39/2006), recognises the status of a carer
(informal carer) as a person who, exceptionally, provides care to a spouse or relative by
consanguinity, affinity or adoption, up to the third degree of kinship, for at least a year.
Both the carer and care recipient should live under the same roof.
Link/Source: https://eurocarers.org/country-profiles/spain/ |
|
| Policy and regulation | The LAPAD provides the main regulatory framework for LTC in Spain. This
law does
not include a specific definition of quality in LTC, although Articles 34-36 refer to quality in
terms of services and the training of professional carers and informal carers. The regulation of
these aspects is developed in detail through the CISAAD.
Link/Source: European Commission’s 2021 LTC rpeort country profiles |
|
| Institutional LTC service providers include regional and municipal centres, as well as private sector institutions | |
🇫🇷 France
| Demographic | In the period 2019-2050 the share of 65+ people in the French population
is
expected to grow from 20% to 26.6% (compared to an increase from 20% to 28.5% in the
EU-28)
Link/Source: France – Eurocarers |
|
| It is estimated there would be 8,3 million informal carers in
France (12.9% of the population), among whom 4,3 million provided regular care at home to a
person over 60 years old
Link/Source: France – Eurocarers |
|
| Employment care work | Women represent 57% of informal carers of older people in the country.
The
proportion of female carers even increases to 74%, along with the level of dependency of the
cared-for person
Link/Source: France – Eurocarers |
|
| The rate of informal carers is high compared to other countries:
approximately 26% of people aged 18 years or over 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 |
|
|
| It is estimated that between 8 and 11 million individuals provide
informal care for a relative who needs care because of age, disability or a chronic or disabling
illness in France
Link/Source: European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (2023) France. Health system Review |
|
| Quality of the social care system | Data on care quality are lacking in the primary and long-term care settings
Link/Source: European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (2023) France. Health system Review |
|
| Policy and regulation | The dependent elderly is also entitled to receive the Allocation
Personnalisée
d’Autonomie – APA (Personalised Autonomy Benefit), which is a universal benefit for people over
60 that came into force in 2002.
Link/Source: France – Eurocarers |
|
| The national Strategy to support informal carers includes an action
plan to reinforce and diversify the offer of respite care services, which is accompanied by an
additional budget of €100 million for the period 2020-2022.
Link/Source: France – Eurocarers |
|
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.”
