Home Care Receipt during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Situation of People Aged 50 and over in Europe

Wojciech Latkowski , Warsaw School of Economics

The increasing number and share of older people in the total population that comes together with population ageing can be considered as a challenge for care arrangements in all developed countries. As older people are more frail than the young and middle-aged persons, they also require more personal care to meet their needs. The consequences of the Covid-19 outbreak were particularly affecting the people in need of care. The goal of the study is to compare the situation of care recipients aged 50 and over in Europe during the Covid-19 pandemic. We look into changes in home care provision and its regional variation across Europe between the first and the second phase of the pandemic. We also explore how did selected socio-economic factors affect the respondents to report difficulties in obtaining adequate care from outside the household during the pandemic. To address research questions we use SHARE Corona Surveys: wave 1 and wave 2. Our first results indicate an increase in the proportion of regular home care received between the two waves of the survey that was characterised by regional variation. The scale of the unmet care needs decreased. The results of the study may be helpful to identify the most vulnerable group of care recipients whose needs should be prioritised.

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 Presented in Session 99. Flash session Loneliness, Pandemic and Care