The right to affordable quality long-term care is one of the 20 principles in the EU Pillar of Social Rights. The European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan and the Green Paper on Ageing highlight that while demand for care services is expected to increase in an ageing society, the lack of quality standards in care and gaps in access to quality services, including in rural areas, are a serious concern in many Member States. Long-term care may also be provided informally, but this comes with its own challenges such as combining this with work.

A first goal of this study was to develop a common understanding of informal care and its key features and confirm this understanding with experts. The second goal was to estimate the number of people providing informal long-term care and to analyse their characteristics. The third goal was to estimate the costs associated with the provision of informal long-term care for the individual and the State, using different cost concepts.

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