Care Needs and Family Care for Older Persons in Brazil

Abstract

Introduction

With populations aging and associated fiscal pressures, care provision has become an important issue in economics and policy. However, our understanding of care provision and care gaps still has important limitations. Effective policy formulation is not possible, and continued reliance on family care limits women’s employment options, perpetuating social and gender inequalities.

Objective

We use the 2019 National Health Survey to identify care needs and family care loads in Brazil, extending earlier work and contributing to current debates about care policy in Brazil and Latin America.

Methodology

We describe how much help Brazilians over 60 years need with activities of daily living and develop first estimates of the time required for this care. We use an OLS regression to identify the characteristics of individuals who need more help and measure the availability of family members to meet these needs.

Results

Of the approximately 20% of Brazilians over 60 years who report difficulty with at least one ADL, around 25% would require more than 10 hours a week of assistance. Those needing more assistance are likely to be older, urban women living in a house (as opposed to an apartment), not in the highest income quartile, and living with more adults, more non- working adults, and more non-working women.

Conclusions

For many working women in care-needing households without non-working women, care loads are very significant. In the context of discussions about Brazil’s National Care Plan, these findings highlight the costs of family care and show that state policy is needed to complement family car.