83rd International Atlantic Economic Conference

March 22 - 25, 2017 | Berlin, Germany

Determinants of informal long term care in European countries: A spatio-temporal approach

Friday, 24 March 2017: 15:50
Boguslawa Urbaniak, Ph.D. , Department of Labour and Social Policy, University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland
Jadwiga Suchecka, Prof. , Department of Spatial Econometrics, University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland
Population ageing and its resultant effects are a permanent item on the agenda of studies and discussions on the future of Europe. Issues of dignified ageing for the numerous members of the post-World War II baby boom will be dominant in the near future.           

According to the preferred concept of “aging in place”, every effort should be made to allow the ageing generations to remain independent in their home environment for as long as possible. This can only happen with institutional state support given to informal caregivers: mostly women over 40, who are family members to some degree of the person in question, and who combine their caretaking responsibilities with work. The scope of support offered by the state to informal caregivers affects their professional activities.

The main goal of the study is to examine the relationship between the degree of development of a support system for long-term caregivers (LTCs) and the level of public expenditure on long-term care for the elderly, as well as their share in gross domestic product (GDP).  It is also important to determine the relationship between the number of women aged 40-64 working part-time and the number of women aged 40-64 forced to leave their full-time jobs in order to look after their dependent family member.

On the basis of studies conducted by the European Social Protection Network on national policies supporting the informal caregivers in European Union (EU) member-states, one can distinguish the following: 1) countries with developed, mature state systems supporting long-term caregivers of children, the disabled and the elderly, which include among others Denmark, Sweden and Finland (with the most advanced systems) and 2) countries with poorly-developed state systems supporting informal caregivers, based on the values of familialism (for example Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, Poland). It is assumed that the amount of public expenditures incurred on LTCs did not determine the development level of the systems supporting the informal caregivers, but that there is a positive relationship between the number of women aged 40-64 working part-time and their resignation from full-time work because they need to look after dependent persons.

The following methods were used in the study: 1) spatial distribution of characteristics – rates of change in the selected period, 2005 and 2014; 2) tests for dependencies using correlograms and Spearman’s correlation coefficients; 3) cluster analysis: indicating spatial similarities among countries using Ward’s method.

Eurostat data sources were used in the research.