In Europe, 80 percent of all long-term care is provided not by professionals, but by family members — unpaid, often unprepared, and increasingly overwhelmed. A recent study published in The Lancet Regional Health — Europe projects that the informal care burden in Europe will increase by 50 percent by 2050.
The microsimulation study covering 31 European countries calculates the caregiving burden in “Years Lived Caregiving” (YLC). The result: from 7.98 million YLC in 2000, the burden will rise to 11.9 million YLC by 2050 — an increase from 21.3 to 31.0 YLC per 1,000 people. Eastern European countries face the steepest increases.
A comprehensive umbrella review of meta-analyses shows that 33 percent of informal caregivers suffer from depression, 35 percent from anxiety, and nearly half report excessive burden.
Germany has an estimated 4.7 million family caregivers. Many juggle care responsibilities alongside work, often without adequate support. The planned Familienpflegegeld — a wage replacement benefit modelled on parental leave — could bring relief, but has not yet been enacted.
The study projects Eastern Europe will see the sharpest increase in informal care burden per capita. In Poland, only 3.5 percent of seniors use institutional care — family care is the norm. In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, institutional care remains less developed than in Western Europe. In Ukraine, the war has intensified the burden, with isolated elderly people often dependent on a single family member.
In Austria, around 950,000 people provide informal care — predominantly women. Switzerland reports similar figures. Both countries offer financial support, but the emotional and physical toll is often underestimated.
Over 60 percent of all informal caregivers in Europe are women. They more frequently reduce working hours or leave employment entirely, leading to lower pensions and higher poverty risk in old age.
The solution is not either-or, but both: family and professional care must work hand in hand. This is the mission of OPK.CARE: we connect qualified care workers from Eastern Europe with facilities and families in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland — so family caregivers finally get the support they deserve.
Family caregivers are the invisible backbone of Europe’s healthcare system. Their work saves health systems an estimated 2.5 percent of EU GDP. Without better support, they face burnout themselves. Europe must act now.
Sources: The Lancet Regional Health — Europe (2025), Eurocarers, ScienceDirect
March 18, 2026
