• The value of the services family caregivers provide for "free" is estimated to be $306 billion a year. That is almost twice as much as is actually spent on homecare and nursing home services combined ($158 billion). (1)

• The typical family caregiver is a 46-year-old woman caring for her widowed mother who does not live with her. She is married and employed. Approximately 60% of family caregivers are women. (2)

• Thirty percent of family caregivers caring for seniors are themselves aged 65 or over; another 15% are between the ages of 45 to 54. (3)

• 17% of family caregivers are providing 40 hours of care a week or more. (4)

• Family caregivers report having a chronic condition at more than twice the rate of non-caregivers. (5)

• 22% of family caregivers say they need help communicating with physicians. (6)

• Family caregivers who acknowledge their role are more proactive in reaching out for resources and talking with their loved one's doctor than non-acknowledged caregivers. (7)

• Nearly half of caregivers provide fewer than eight hours of care per week, while nearly one in five provide more than 40 hours of care per week. (8)

• Stress of family caregiving for persons with dementia has been shown to impact a person’s immune system for up to three years after their caregiving ends thus increasing their chances of developing a chronic illness themselves. (9)

• For 60% of family caregivers, their loved one's diagnosis and their interaction with the health care system made them aware that they were family caregivers. (10)

SOURCES

(1) (Source: Arno, Peter S., "Economic Value of Informal Caregiving," presented at the Care Coordination and the Caregiving Forum, Dept. of Veterans Affairs, NIH, Bethesda, MD, January 25-27, 2006.)

(2) (Source: National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, Caregiving in the U.S., 2004.)

(3) (Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, The Characteristics of Long-term Care Users. Rockville: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2001.)

(4) (Source: National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, Caregiving in the U.S., 2004.)

(5) (Source: Health and Human Services, Informal Caregiving: Compassion in Action. Washington, DC: Department of Health and Human Services. Based on data from the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), 1998 and 1 National Family Caregivers Association, Random Sample Survey of Family Caregivers, Summer 2000, Unpublished and National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, Caregiving in the U.S., 2004.)

(6) (Source: National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, Caregiving in the U.S., 2004.)

(7) (Source: National Family Caregivers Association, Survey of Self-Identified Family Caregivers, 2001.)

(8) (Source: National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP. Caregiving in the U.S. Bethesda: National Alliance for Caregiving, and Washington, DC: AARP, 2004.)

(9) (Source: Drs. Janice-Kiecolt Glaser and Ronald Glaser, "Chronic stress and age-related increases in the proinflammatory cytokine IL-6." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, June 30, 2003.)

(10) (Source: National Family Caregivers Association, Survey of Self-Identified Family Caregivers, 2001.)