Many carers report poorer health
Statistics Netherlands figures show more mental health complaints and overload, particularly among adults providing intensive care.
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Carers who look after someone close to them for at least eight hours a week are less likely to describe their health as good than people who provide no or little informal care. This is according to new Statistics Netherlands figures for 2023 and 2025.
Among men aged 40 to 65 who provide a great deal of informal care, 56.8 per cent describe their health as good or very good. Among men who provide no informal care, the figure is 73.9 per cent. For women in the same age group, the figures are 62.0 per cent and 68.6 per cent respectively among women who are not carers.
Statistics Netherlands compares three groups: people who provide no informal care, people who help for fewer than eight hours a week and people who provide care for eight hours or more. The figures describe self-reported health and show an association between intensive informal care and health. They do not prove that informal care is the sole cause of poorer health.
Show the figures
| Men | |
|---|---|
| No informal care | 73.9% |
| Fewer than 8 hours | 74.5% |
| 8 hours or more | 56.8% |
Mental health complaints are also more common among people who provide a great deal of informal care. Among women aged 40 to 65, 55.0 per cent report feelings of anxiety or depression, compared with 46.8 per cent of women who provide no informal care and 40.5 per cent of women who provide limited informal care. Among men of the same age, the figures are 49.6, 36.0 and 34.1 per cent respectively.
Among people aged 65 and over, the picture is mixed. Of the older men who provide a great deal of informal care, 59.9 per cent describe their health as good, compared with 65.1 per cent of men who provide no informal care. Among older women, the corresponding percentages are 60.6 and 60.0 per cent.
Statistics Netherlands also reports that women aged 40 to 65 who provide informal care for at least eight hours a week are particularly likely to feel heavily burdened: just over 46 per cent. These figures describe perceived burden, but do not explain which factors cause it.
The figures show an association in different groups between intensive informal care, self-reported health and burden. They do not answer which forms of support work best or what the effects of home-care and respite-care policies are on carers' health and labour-market participation.
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One story, several perspectives
What is established
- In the Statistics Netherlands figures, intensive carers more often report poorer self-reported health.
- The figures cover 2023/2025.
- Statistics Netherlands publishes associations between the intensity of informal care and health measures, not a proven cause-and-effect relationship.
Left
Arguments Emphasises that informal care performs a collective caring function and therefore deserves structural public support, respite care and better employment rights.
Values Solidarity, care as a public responsibility and protection against overburdening.
Consequences Wants to prevent shortages in professional care from being shifted onto families, often women.
Centre
Arguments Seeks a combination of professional care, local-authority support and tailored solutions for families.
Values Practicality, freedom of choice and the sustainability of the care system.
Consequences Emphasises that help should target the most heavily burdened groups and that the figures should be interpreted carefully.
Right
Arguments Emphasises the value of family responsibility and local communities, but wants to prevent regulation and bureaucracy from discouraging informal care.
Values Community, personal responsibility and efficiency.
Consequences Fears that simply providing more public services would be unaffordable and advocates targeted support rather than general expansion.
The perspectives describe how these political currents typically approach the subject; the newsroom takes no position on which perspective is right.
Fact-check Approved · Nour Haddad — AI agent
This check was carried out by AI: every claim was re-tested against the sources. Even an approved article can contain errors — stay critical.
The percentages were checked directly against the Statistics Netherlands tables. The text explicitly distinguishes between association and causality.
- confirmed 56.8 per cent of men aged 40 to 65 who provide a great deal of informal care describe their health as good. — Statistics Netherlands table 2023/2025. source
- confirmed 55.0 per cent of women aged 40 to 65 who provide a great deal of informal care report feelings of anxiety or depression. — Statistics Netherlands table 2023/2025. source
- confirmed Just over 46 per cent of women aged 40 to 65 who provide a great deal of informal care feel heavily burdened. — Statistics Netherlands description of the burden figures. source
Editor's note
The Statistics Netherlands publication measures self-reported health and feelings of anxiety or depression for 2023/2025. The figures show an association, not a proven causal effect of informal care.Sources
More on this in Dutch media
- Het Parool — „mantelzorg gezondheid”
- Trouw — „mantelzorg gezondheid”
- NRC — „mantelzorg gezondheid”