Mapping the unpaid care work economy in Asia

Aging populations in Asia are worried that they are facing a "care crisis," with many older people in need of care having no one to care for them. However, we do not have a clear picture of current care patterns: How much care is currently being consumed? Who is providing that care? Are women and men serving equally as paid or unpaid caregivers? We explore the methods for answering some of these basic empirical questions about unpaid care work using the National Time Transfer Accounts, which show that older people are far from being a major source of unpaid care demand, but are making net transfers of time to other age groups well into their elder years. In our group of Asian countries (Bangladesh, India, the Republic of Korea, Mongolia, Thailand, Türkiye, and Viet Nam), these time transfers come on average from women.