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What Will the Family Composition of Older Persons Be Like Tomorrow? A Comparison of Canada and France*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2010

Joëlle Gaymu ,
Marc-Antoine Busque ,
Jacques Légaré ,
Yann Décarie ,
Samuel Vézina  and
Janice Keefe
Joëlle Gaymu*
Affiliation:
Institut national d’études démographiques (INED)
Marc-Antoine Busque
Affiliation:
Département de démographie, Université de Montréal
Jacques Légaré
Affiliation:
Département de démographie, Université de Montréal
Yann Décarie
Affiliation:
Département de démographie, Université de Montréal
Samuel Vézina
Affiliation:
Département de démographie, Université de Montréal
Janice Keefe
Affiliation:
Nova Scotia Center on Aging, Mount Saint Vincent University
*
†Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to / La correspondance concernant cet article doit être adressées à: Joëlle Gaymu, DESS. Institut national d’études démographiques (INED), 133 boulevard Davout, 75980 Paris Cedex 20 (gaymu@ined.fr)
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Abstract

Western societies are experiencing a dramatic growth in the population aged 75 and older. Changes in family composition raise questions about who will care for those who need assistance. We compared population projections to the year 2030 of those families aged 75 and older in Canada and France. Over the next 25 years, the pool of potential family carers, (i.e., spouses and children), will broaden from the effect of the baby boom and increased proportion of women with spouses. The populations most dependent on formal care, with no potential support from a child or a spouse, will increase more sharply in Canada (123%) than in France (34%) but at a slower rate than the total population. Policy and programs in both countries will need to prepare for a greater number of elderly spouses providing care and in Canada, at least, a significant increase in the number that will need to rely on formal services.

Résumé

L’ensemble des sociétés occidentales connaissent actuellement une croissance considérable des personnes âgées de 75 ans et plus. De nombreux changements familiaux affectant ces sociétés, il est pertinent de se demander qui prendra en charge les aînés de demain en cas de besoin d’assistance. Cet article compare les projections démographiques du réseau familial des personnes âgées de 75 ans et plus jusqu’en 2030 au Canada et en France. Au cours des 25 années prochaines, le vivier des aidants familiaux potentiels, constitué des conjoint(e)s et des enfants, s’élargira en raison des effets du Baby Boom (dont l’ampleur a été particulièrement forte au Canada) et de la proportion croissante de femmes qui ont un conjoint. Les populations les plus tributaires de l’aide formelle – sans soutien potentiel provenant d’un enfant ou d’un conjoint – augmenteront à un rythme beaucoup plus soutenu au Canada (123 pour cent) qu’en France (34 pour cent), mais moins rapidement toutefois que l’ensemble des personnes âgées. Les politiques publiques de ces deux pays devront être adaptées afin de soutenir adéquatement des effectifs croissants de personnes âgées confrontés à la dépendance de leurs conjoints. Au Canada, ces politiques devront, de plus, faire face à une hausse, plus forte qu’en France, du nombre d’aînés qui dépendront des services d’aide formelles.

Keywords

projections de populationcomposition des famillessoins et services informelssoins et services formelscomparaison internationalePopulation projectionsfamily compositioninformal careformal careinternational comparison
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 29 , Issue 1: Special Issue from the Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Project (SEDAP) – Caring for an Aging Population: Context, Practice & Policy , March 2010 , pp. 57 - 71
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2010

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Footnotes

*

We thank our sponsors and colleagues who contributed to the projections:

In Canada: Alzheimer Society of Canada (Project #0640) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Project #81108).

In France: the European Commission which funded the FELICIE project (contract no. QLK6-CT 2002-02310) and the project participants who produced these projections –M. Murphy and S. Kalogirou from the London School of Economics (LESE), and P. Ekamper from the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI)) – or provided analyses on family network: E. Grundy, C. Tomassini, and S. Kalogirou from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).

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