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A University of Michigan study estimates that U.S. women provide seven years of care to aging adults over their lifetimes, compared with four years for men, based on 2023 rates. The gap has widened since 2011, though men and women spend similar time caring for a spouse or partner.
Women in the United States can expect to spend seven years of their lives caring for older adults, compared with four years for men, according to a University of Michigan study published in 2026. The estimate, based on caregiving rates in 2023, puts the lifetime gender gap at three years and shows it has widened since 2011, when women’s estimate was six years and men’s was also four.
Researchers Vicki Freedman and Crystal Yee To Ng analyzed nearly 8,500 responses to the National Study of Caregiving alongside federal population data. They used the information to estimate how many years adults aged 20 and older might spend providing care to older people over their lifetimes, assuming current rates continue. The findings were published in The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences.
The estimate covers support such as personal care, household tasks, transportation and medical-related assistance. Women’s greater expected time was not confined to a particular kind of task: the researchers reported a gap across the types of assistance they examined, including bathing or dressing and providing rides.
The difference also varied by relationship. Men and women were estimated to spend about 1.5 years caring for a spouse or partner over a lifetime. Women, however, could expect to provide more than an additional year of care to a parent, several more months to a grandparent, and more than an extra year to extended family and friends, the researchers found.
How the Care Gap Shapes Family Support
The findings put a lifetime measure on a role often captured only in short-term surveys. That longer view suggests women’s caregiving burden is not limited to any single year or relationship: the researchers found differences across multiple forms of help and across several family and social ties. For households, the figures offer a way to understand how care responsibilities may accumulate over adulthood.
The study also lands amid growth in the number of family caregivers. The report says the number helping U.S. adults aged 65 and older rose from 18 million in 2011 to more than 24 million in recent years. That is a count of caregivers, not a measure of how many hours each person gives or of the total amount of care provided. The lifetime estimates likewise do not show the intensity or financial and employment effects of an individual’s caregiving.
The results could matter to policymakers and service providers planning for an aging population, because unpaid help from relatives and friends is one part of how older adults receive support. The study describes a gender difference in expected years of care; it does not establish why that difference exists or predict what any one person will do.
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From Short Surveys to Lifetime Estimates
Many earlier studies measured caregiving over brief periods, such as a few months. The University of Michigan researchers instead combined survey responses across age groups with population data to calculate an estimate of care years across a lifetime. This method allows comparisons between men and women over a much longer span than a single snapshot, but it depends on current rates as a basis for the estimate.
The researchers compared estimates for 2011 and 2023. Women’s expected lifetime caregiving rose from six years to seven, while men’s estimate remained at four. The study’s title identifies the comparison as lifetime family caregiving for older U.S. adults by men and women. The source report says the analysis includes care for relatives and friends, including extended family and people outside the immediate family network.
Care needs may also extend beyond close relatives. The report points to a growing share of older adults with no close kin, alongside rising care needs among people reaching later life. Those trends could increase demand for support from friends, extended family, paid providers or other community services, though the study does not quantify how that demand will be met.
“Despite attention to the growing number of men taking on caregiving responsibilities, the gap in lifetime family caregiving has not closed between men and women in recent years.”
— Vicki Freedman, research professor at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research
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Limits of the Lifetime Projections
The seven-year and four-year figures are estimates based on 2023 caregiving rates, not a record of the exact care years experienced by every individual. The researchers calculated how many years a person could expect to provide care if current rates hold into the future. If family arrangements, care access or social norms change, actual lifetime patterns may differ.
The source report does not provide a breakdown of caregiving hours, the intensity of assistance, or the effects on caregivers’ income, health or employment. It also does not identify the causes of the gender gap. The findings show an association in estimated years of care, not why women provide more or whether that pattern will continue.
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Factors That Could Shift Caregiving
The study does not announce a specific policy response or a scheduled follow-up. Its authors say future caregiving patterns will depend on family change, the cost and availability of paid care, and social norms around who provides support. The researchers also point to the number of older adults without close kin and the care needs of people reaching later life as pressures to watch.
Further research and future population data can show whether the estimates change as those conditions evolve. For now, the study’s 2023-based figures offer a comparison of expected lifetime caregiving, while leaving open how care will be shared among families, friends, paid providers and communities in the years ahead.
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Key Questions
How many lifetime years of care do women and men provide, according to the study?
The study estimates seven years for women and four for men, based on 2023 caregiving rates and the assumption that those rates hold into the future.
Did the gap grow compared with 2011?
Yes. Women’s estimated lifetime caregiving rose from six years in 2011 to seven in 2023. Men’s estimate remained at four years.
Is the difference the same for care of a spouse or partner?
No. The researchers estimated that men and women each spend about 1.5 lifetime years caring for a spouse or partner. The gap appeared in other relationships, including care for parents, grandparents, extended family and friends.
What does the study count as caregiving?
The report includes help for older adults with tasks such as personal care, household chores, transportation and medical-related tasks. The study found differences across the types of assistance it examined.
Do the estimates predict what every caregiver will experience?
No. They are population-level projections based on rates in 2023, not predictions for particular people. The authors say future patterns may change with family structures, paid-care costs and availability, and social norms.
Source: rss
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