Change in care regimes and female migration: the ‘care drain’ in the Mediterranean

TLDR

The need to provide long‑term care for an ageing population has spurred searches for financially viable solutions, yet Mediterranean countries still rely heavily on family‑based care regimes. The study investigates how the feminization of migration intersects with evolving Southern European care regimes, aiming to assess efficiency, equity, and sustainability implications. The authors review literature and recent survey data on long‑term care provisions and costs to outline the evolving mix of care models. The influx of care migrants has created a new division of labour among family carers, female immigrants, and skilled native workers.

Abstract

Concern over the need to provide long-term care for an ageing population has stimulated a search for new solutions able to ensure financial viability and a better balance between demand and supply of care. There is at present a great variety of care regimes across industrial countries, with Mediterranean countries forming a distinctive cluster where management of care is overwhelmingly entrusted to the family. In some of these countries elderly care has recently attracted large flows of care migrants, ushering in a new division of labour among family carers (mainly women), female immigrants, and skilled native workers. The article explores the interconnections between the feminization of migration, on the one hand, and ongoing change in the Southern European care regimes, on the other hand. Different strands of the literature are brought together and reviewed to illustrate ongoing developments. One main objective is to identify issues of efficiency, equity and sustainability raised by this new ‘model’ of care. The results of recent surveys on provisions and costs of long-term care are accordingly reviewed to set the stage for discussion on the optimal mix of long-term care provisions in place of traditional family care.