On 17 October 2018, the UN International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, Eurocarers launches a publication on Informal Care, Poverty and Social Exclusion

118 million EU citizens are still living at risk of poverty or social exclusion today. Evidence shows that informal carers are disproportionately affected by poverty and social exclusion, and that policies aimed at supporting them remain insufficient in the EU. While informal carers provide 80% of all care in Europe, insuring the sustainability of our social protection systems, they often bear the cost attached to their contribution. Their role is seldom acknowledged and its impact on their socio-economic status rarely considered.

Today, while the situation of informal carers has been further weakened by cuts in benefits and services as part of austerity policies, and against the backdrop of a quickly evolving labour market, the need for policies protecting carers against the risk of poverty and social exclusion is all the more pressing.

Read the Eurocarers’ publication on Informal Care, Poverty and Social Exclusion, giving an overview of the mechanisms contributing to pushing informal carers at the margins of our societies, and listing the policy solutions that must be explored in order to prevent demographic ageing from generating even more fragmented societies.