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Facts About Care Giving
The LIFE Program can help to relieve caregiver burden. The following facts on care giving were adapted from:
THE CARE GUIDE
American Society on Aging
833 Market St., Suite 511
San Francisco, CA 94103 |
- Almost 100 million people in the United States have one or more chronic conditions. Over the next 25 years, this number is expected to increase to 134 million Americans.
- Nearly one in four U.S. households is involved in caring for a relative or friend aged 50 or older.
- Care giving is largely a woman's issue. Some 72 percent of caregivers are female, mostly wives and adult daughters.
- An estimated 25 to 40 percent of women care for both their older relatives and their children.
- The average age of a caregiver is 57. More than one in three, however, are older themselves (65 years of age and older).
- Half of all caregivers also work outside the home.
- An estimated nine percent of caregivers quit their jobs to provide care. For adult daughters, this number rises to 12 percent.
- The duration of care giving can last from less than a year to over 40 years.
- Eighty percent of caregivers provide unpaid assistance seven days a week. Eleven percent provide round the clock care.
- In the twenty-first century the demands placed on family and other informal caregivers are likely to escalate, affecting nearly every American family.
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