This Policy Brief aims to present information, on the one hand, on the current picture of public and private expenditure on long-term care for older people and to discuss the challenges of financing care.
This Policy brief examines the interrelated aspects of the fiscal and economic policy as well as the impact of population ageing on the sustainability of public finances in the wake of the recent economic crisis.
The dilemmas facing the European Union countries associated with population ageing have until recently been articulated in two ways: 1) the financial sustainability of public welfare systems, and 2) the adequacy of retirement incomes and basic social services.
Concerns about the fiscal sustainability of long-term care services and more self-conscious and demanding carers' movements across countries have pushed informal care (provided by relatives and friends) into the limelight.
Housing quality is correlated with a nation’s affluence. The use of objective criteria for assessing the need for space may be flawed, and the EU-indicators pursuing social inclusion need to be harmonized with strategies of environmental sustainability.
