Caregiving Population Facts
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Caregiving Population Facts:
- More than 50 million people, provide care for a chronically ill, disabled
or aged family member or friend during any given year
Caregiving is no longer predominantly a women's issue. Men now make up 44% of the caregiving population.
(Source: National Family Caregivers Association (NFCA) Random Sample Survey of Family Caregivers, Summer 2000, Unpublished.)
- Caregivers providing care for a family member over the age of 50 routinely
underestimate the length of time they will spend as caregivers - only 46%
expected to be caregivers longer than two years. In fact the average length
of time spent on caregiving was about eight years, with approximately one
third of respondents providing care for 10 years or more.
(Source: MetLife Juggling Act Study, Balancing Caregiving with Work and the Costs of Caregiving, Met Life Mature Market Institute, November 1999.)
- Most women will spend 17 years caring for children and 18 years helping
an elderly parent.
(Source: 101 Facts on the Status of Working Women produced by business and Professional Women's Foundation.)