Eldercare in 2011

Percent of the U.S. population who were eldercare providers,
by sex and age, 2011 annual averages

Age	Women	Men	Total
Total	17.7	14.9	16.3
15-24	11.9	13.8	12.8
25-34	10.2	10	10.1
35-44	14.6	11.8	13.2
45-54	27.2	19.2	23.3
55-64	24.9	19.8	22.4
65+	17	15.4	16.3

Eldercare can involve a range of care activities, such as assisting with grooming and feeding, preparing meals, arranging medical care, and providing transportation; it also can involve providing companionship or being available to assist whenever help is needed, and therefore can be associated with nearly any activity. Eldercare providers are those who give unpaid care to someone over the age of 65 who needs help because of a condition related to aging.¹ The 2011 American Time Use Survey for the first time collected information about eldercare providers and the time they spent providing care.

Who provided eldercare?

In 2011, an estimated 39.8 million people in the United States, or 16 percent of the civilian noninstitutional population age 15 and over, were eldercare providers. A majority (56 percent) were women.

Among the civilian noninstitutional population age 15 and over, individuals ages 45 to 54 and 55 to 64 were the most likely to provide eldercare (23 and 22 percent, respectively), followed by those age 65 and over (16 percent). 

This is an interactive chart. Mouse over to see data labels. Click the legend items to hide and show data displayed.

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Who received eldercare?

In 2011, most eldercare providers cared for their own relatives:  42 percent cared for a parent, 19 percent cared for a grandparent, 4 percent cared for a spouse or unmarried partner,² and 21 percent cared for another related person.  Just 25 percent of eldercare providers cared for a nonrelative, and this includes some providers who cared for both a nonrelative and relative. Most eldercare providers (85 percent) did not live in the same household as their care recipients. 

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How often was care provided? How much care was usually provided?

On average in 2011, 24 percent of eldercare providers cared for at least one person per day, spending 3.1 hours in eldercare on days that they provided care.  Weekend days had higher rates of eldercare than weekdays:  an average of 27 percent of eldercare providers provided care per weekend day, compared with 22 percent per weekday. 

Among the population of eldercare providers in 2011, men and women were about equally likely to provide care on an average day. On days they provided care, however, women spent more time (3.5 hours) than men (2.6 hours) providing this care. 

A majority (64 percent) of eldercare providers were employed; however, among caregivers, those who were employed were less likely to provide care on an average day than those who were not employed.  Employed caregivers also spent less time providing care on the days they did so.  Among eldercare providers, 19 percent of the employed and 32 percent of those not employed provided care on an average day; on days that they provided care, employed persons spent 2.4 hours providing eldercare compared with 3.9 hours for those who were not employed. 

Percent of eldercare providers who provided care by day of week

Day	Percent
Weekends and holidays	26.7
Weekdays	22.2
Total, all days	23.6

Average hours per day eldercare providers spent providing care on days they engaged in the activity, by employment status

Employment status	Hours
Employed	2.41
Not employed	3.86

Average hours per day eldercare providers spent providing care on days they engaged in the activity, by sex

Sex	Hours
Men	2.6
Women	3.5

Select a chart: Percent who provided care by day of the week Care hours by employment status Care hours by sex

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How much time did eldercare providers spend in different care activities?

On days they provided care in 2011, eldercare providers spent 1.0 hour—about one third of the total time spent in eldercare—in leisure activities associated with eldercare.  Household activities, at 42 minutes, was the second most time-consuming caregiving activity. These two activities were also the ones that eldercare providers were most likely to do as eldercare:  37 percent of providers engaged in leisure and sports and 40 percent in household activities on days they provided care. 

Percent of eldercare providers who engaged
in eldercare activities on days they provided care

Activity	Women	Men	Total
Eating and drinking	24.8	18.2	22.1
Household activities	45.3	33.0	40.2
Purchasing goods and services	16.9	15.3	16.2
Caring for and helping household members	18.4	14.1	16.6
Caring for and helping nonhousehold members	27.9	21.6	25.2
Working and work-related activities	4.2	5.6	4.8
Organizational, civic, and religious activities	5.8	2.7	4.5
Leisure and sports	39.0	32.9	36.5
Telephone calls, mail, and e-mail	7.1	5.5	6.4
Traveling	27.5	22.6	25.5
Other activities, not elsewhere classified	6.8	4.8	6.0

Percent distribution of time spent providing eldercare for those age 65 and over by selected activities, 2011 annual averages

Activity	Total
Eating and drinking	7.3
Household activities	22.6
Purchasing goods and services	4.6
Caring for and helping household members	6.3
Caring for and helping nonhousehold members	10.0
Working and work-related activities	6.5
Organizational, civic, and religious activities	2.5
Leisure and sports	31.9
Telephone calls, mail, and e-mail	1.0
Traveling	5.4
Other activities, not elsewhere classified	2.0

Select a chart: Percent who provided care by activity Percent of time in eldercare activities

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These data are from the American Time Use Survey program. For more information, see “American Time Use Survey — 2011 Results” (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-12-1246.