In this analysis, 2012 SOEP data was used to examine how many people in Germany have cared for their relatives and to what extent, and how this group can be described according to selected socio-economic characteristics such as age, gender, income, and assets.

Evaluations based on the Socio-Economic Panel: Nursing relatives in Germany
IW-Report
German Economic Institute (IW)
In this analysis, 2012 SOEP data was used to examine how many people in Germany have cared for their relatives and to what extent, and how this group can be described according to selected socio-economic characteristics such as age, gender, income, and assets.
Once again, it has been shown that women care more frequently and to a greater extent than men. In addition, there are differences between age groups: People aged under 30 barely maintained care in 2012, relatives, who cared, were mainly aged above 30. However, over-60s spent more time on care on average.
There are no major differences between income and wealth groups in deciding whether care is taken or not. On the other hand, there are differences in terms of the amount of care provided. In terms of income, they are less pronounced and different interpretations are possible. On the one hand, lower-income dependents may care to a greater extent because they cannot afford the support of a professional caregiver. On the other hand, an expansion of care work could be accompanied by a reduction in employment, especially for the group of those still in employment – income is correspondingly lower if a lot of care is provided. For this reason, the additional consideration of net wealth is interesting. In this case, the mean hours of care decrease with higher wealth, but not the share of people giving care. Cost motives could therefore be more clearly visible here than in the case of income.

Susanna Kochskämper / Maximilian Stockhausen: Pflegende Angehörige in Deutschland – Auswertungen auf Basis des Sozio-oekonomischen Panels
IW-Report
German Economic Institute (IW)
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