Caregiving in the Context of Increasing Longevity: Measuring the Involvement of the Italian Population

Population aging has become a central demographic and policy concern across Europe, as rising life expectancy and declining fertility expand the share of older adults requiring support while reducing the pool of working-age potential caregivers. In familistic welfare contexts such as Italy, where formal long-term care provision remains limited, unpaid family care plays a crucial role. Yet less is known about how longevity and changing family structures reshape caregiving exposure across life. Building on the Care Life Expectancy (CareLE) framework, this study introduces Care Involvement Life Expectancy (CILE) for Italy, providing the first population-level estimates of years spent in unpaid caregiving. Using nationally representative data from the 1998 and 2016 Italian Family and Social Subjects Survey (FSS; N = 59.050 and 24.753), combined with period life tables, we apply the Sullivan method to estimate gender- and intensity-specific CILE. Results show that gains in life expectancy are accompanied by increasing caregiving exposure, with care-involved life expectancy rising faster than overall life expectancy. In 2016, women aged 25–29 are expected to spend over 17 years in unpaid caregiving (12 in 1998). Gender inequalities persist across adulthood, as women spend a larger share of their lives providing unpaid care, particularly in intensive caregiving, which account for almost 40% of total caregiving at older ages. By expressing care involvement in expected years of life and care intensity, CILE makes inequalities in caregiving exposure across the life course visible and provides a framework for assessing the implications of population ageing in familistic contexts.