Caregiving in an Ageing World

People in almost all countries are living longer. Globally, babies born in 2022 are expected to live 71.7 years on average, 25 years longer than those born in 1950. Rapidly ageing populations have increasing health and long-term care needs. As the forthcoming World Social Report 2023 discusses, however, today’s care and support systems for older persons are insufficient, requiring greater policy attention. The Covid-19 pandemic exposed existing weaknesses across countries in approaches to long-term care and showed how these weaknesses can aggravate inequalities. Poor quality and underfunded care facilities, insufficient provisions for care at home, low wages and precarious working conditions for paid care workers all contributed to increasing the already significant threat of Covid-19 for older persons (United Nations, 2020). The speed of change and the scale of the crisis have strengthened the call for fundamental reform of approaches to long-term care. Failure to do so will harm today’s older persons and those who care for them, as well as future generations of older persons.