People less likely to care for elderly as they increase in wealth

A new study has found that people are statistically less likely to care for their elderly parents as they get wealthier.

A study, focussing on America and Europe, shows that women spend 36% less time caring for their parents in ways such as giving them lifts and doing household chores for every 10% rise in their salary whilst men’s input reduces by 18%. The time spent caring goes down even further if they have a brother or sister who already helps out.

The problems in providing care for the elderly are already becoming greater simply because people are living longer, while birth rates are falling and experts believe that measures should be put in place to help reverse the trend, including raising the retirement age and encouraging the wider circle of family and friends of the elderly to help in their care.

Olena Nizalova, from the Kiev Economics Institute, said that her study, which looked at 2,790 men and women who had at least one parent or parent-in-law alive in 1998, said that the study’s findings showed that current worldwide measures to make care affordable are not compatible with each other.