More than half of the world’s older persons lack quality long-term care | Division for Inclusive Social Development (DISD)

A new ILO study - LTC protection for older persons: A review of coverage deficits in 46 countries - reveals a global shortfall of 13.6 million care workers undermining the delivery of quality services to more than half of the world’s older persons.

More than half of the global population aged 65 and above, representing 300 million people, is excluded from urgently needed long-term care (LTC), says the International Labour Organization (ILO).

It is important to close the gap and decrease age and gender discrimination.

The study suggests making LTC a top priority on the policy agendas of all countries by:

guaranteeing universal LTC protection based on the core principles of national social protection floors as outlined in ILO Recommendation 202 ;
financing through national social insurance schemes or taxes and reducing out-of-pocket payments to a minimum;
increasing the LTC workforce to make quality services available to all in need, generating much needed jobs.

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