Women now spend seven years caring for ageing relatives, three more than men
Representative image: sabinevanerp / Pixabay
US women can expect seven lifetime years caring for older relatives and friends, up from six in 2011, while men stay at four, a study announced on Oct 21, 2026 finds.
What Happened
Women in the United States can now expect to spend seven years of their lives caring for ageing family members or friends, up from six years in 2011, while men's expected caregiving has stayed at four years, a University of Michigan study shows. The research by Vicki Freedman and Yee To Ng, published in The Journals of Gerontology, Series B and announced by the university on October 21, 2026, finds that the caregiving gap between women and men has widened to three years.
Key Facts
- Women's expected lifetime caregiving for older adults rose from six years in 2011 to seven years at 2023 rates.
- Men's expected lifetime caregiving held steady at four years over the same period.
- The gap is now three years, according to the study.
- Care for a spouse or partner is roughly equal: about 1.5 years on average for both women and men.
- The gap comes from care for parents, grandparents, extended family and friends: women can expect more than a year more caring for a parent, several more months for a grandparent and more than an extra year for other relatives and friends.
- The estimates use nearly 8,500 responses to the US National Study of Caregiving combined with federal population data, for adults aged 20 and older.
- The figures are projections: they assume today's age-specific caregiving rates stay the same.
Why It Matters
Caring for an older parent or relative is unpaid work that can run for years alongside a job and a family. This study tries to measure it in the simplest possible unit: how many years of a person's life go into it. Its answer is that the share carried by women is not only larger but growing.
The detail that stands out is where the gap sits. Between partners, the load is shared fairly evenly: women and men each spend about a year and a half caring for a spouse. The difference opens up when the person who needs care is a parent, a grandparent, an aunt or a friend. In other words, the extra years women give go to the wider family, not to a partner.
Freedman, the study's lead author, said the gap could widen further because more older adults are reaching later life without close relatives and with growing care needs. She said future patterns will depend on how families change, on whether paid care is available and affordable, and on social norms about who is expected to provide care.
Earlier work from the same national survey, published in 2025, found that the number of working caregivers of older adults in the US grew from 7.8 million to 9.6 million between 2011 and 2023, and that women made up more than 70% of them in both years. Together, the two studies describe a load that falls mostly on women and increasingly overlaps with paid work.
For readers balancing a career with an ageing parent's needs, the research is a reminder that this is a long commitment, measured in years rather than months. It makes the case for planning early: talking with siblings and partners about how care will be shared, finding out what leave and flexible-work policies an employer offers, and learning what paid or community care options exist before a crisis forces decisions.
Lifetime caregiving years (United States) Group | 2011 | 2023 Women | 6 years | 7 years Men | 4 years | 4 years Gap | 2 years | 3 years
Impact
Short-term: Employers, caregiver groups and policymakers in the US have updated figures on how much unpaid elder care women provide compared with men.
Long-term: If current rates hold and more older people lack close kin, the researchers expect the gap to grow, with lasting effects on women's earnings, retirement savings and health.
Who is affected: Women caring for parents, grandparents and other relatives, working caregivers, the older adults who depend on them, employers and health and social-care planners.
Key Takeaway
A University of Michigan study finds US women can expect seven years of caregiving for older relatives and friends, three years more than men, and the gap has grown since 2011.
Questions and Answers
How many years do women spend caregiving in their lifetime, according to the University of Michigan study?
At 2023 rates, women in the United States can expect to spend seven years caring for older family members or friends, up from six years in 2011. Men can expect four years, unchanged.
Do women and men share care for a spouse equally?
Roughly, yes. The study finds both spend about 1.5 years on average caring for a spouse or partner. The gap comes from care for parents, grandparents, other relatives and friends.
How did the researchers calculate lifetime caregiving years?
They combined nearly 8,500 responses to the National Study of Caregiving with federal population data, using a demographic method that assumes today's age-specific caregiving rates continue.
Will the caregiving gap keep growing?
Lead author Vicki Freedman said it may widen as more older adults reach later life without close relatives and with greater care needs, depending on family change, the cost and availability of paid care, and social norms.
Disclaimer: Prepared by the Peepals newsroom from publicly available sources with AI assistance. Information is accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication and may change. Images may be representative. Not professional advice. Report an error via our contact page.
Sourced and fact-checked by the Peepals Global Editorial Team
Reported, fact-checked and published by the Peepals Global Editorial Team.
