A caregiver, as defined by the Comfort Bath® survey, has provided or currently provides unpaid care for another person who is disabled, ill, elderly or unable to perform everyday life duties. Caregivers include family members, friends, neighbors and volunteers.
Who is a caregiver?
You or someone you know is a caregiver. More than 50 million people care for a chronically ill, disabled or aged family member or friend each year.
The typical caregiver is a 46-year-old woman caring for her widowed mother, who does not live with her. Women make up approximately 60% of family caregivers. Most caregivers are between 35 and 64 years old.
The majority of caregivers are employed. Among caregivers aged 50 to 64 years old, an estimated 60% are working full or part-time.
A shrinking resource
The pool of potential caregivers is being depleted as the population in need of care grows. By 2025, Census Bureau data shows there will be only three younger people for every person aged 65 and older, compared with 4.6 younger people now. In the next decade, needy elderly are projected to increase at a rate of 88%, while the caregiver growth rate lags behind at 62%.
Time commitment
Seventeen percent of family caregivers are providing 40 hours or more of care each week. A 2003 study found that caregivers spend an average of 4.3 years providing care.
Almost 80 percent of caregivers help with preparing meals, housework, medications and grocery shopping. Fifty percent help with dressing, bathing and toileting. Significantly less men (27 percent) than women (73 percent) perform bathing as one of their regular duties.
More than one-fifth of caregivers admit to "cutting caregiver corners" to save time and make tasks easier, including serving fast food, not laundering care recipients' clothing and skipping the most time-consuming and physically difficult task-bathing.
Economic value
Caregivers provide $306 billion in "free" services for year-almost twice as much as is actually spent on home care and nursing home services combined. An estimated $29 billion in productivity is lost by U.S. companies each year due to employees' caregiving duties.
