The Economic Value of Non-professional Care: A Europe-Wide Analysis

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Toledo, Spain

Abstract

Background 
This paper had two aims. Firstly, to provide a broader view of the profile of non-professional caregivers in Europe, and secondly, to estimate the economic value of the non-professional caregiving.

Methods 
The European Quality of Life Survey 2016/2017, carried out by Eurofound, was used. The target population of the survey was adults who care for a relative or friend in a total of 33 European countries. The opportunity cost method was used to estimate the economic value of caregiving, in which two of the activities forgone were analysed: paid activities (restricted to caregivers who were employed), for which the average gross wage of each country was used; and unpaid activities, for which the minimum gross wage of each country was used.

Results 
There were more than 76 million non-professional caregivers in Europe that provide care for a relative or friend. This figure represents 12.7% of the population in Europe. The estimated time devoted to non-professional care in Europe reached 72 301.5 million hours in 2016. Sharp differences were found among countries. The economic value of that time is estimated at 576 000 million of euros, which represented about 3.63% of Europe’s gross domestic product (GDP).

Conclusion 
This study shows the very important number of resources dedicated to the non-professional care of dependent people and their economic valuation. These results may be helpful in prospective analyses estimating future needs on professional and non-professional and for designing of long-term care (LTC) policies in Europe.

Keywords

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International Journal of Health Policy and Management
Volume 11, Issue 10
October 2022
Pages 2272-2286

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History

  • Receive Date: 16 September 2020
  • Revise Date: 24 September 2021
  • Accept Date: 27 October 2021
  • First Publish Date: 30 October 2021

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