Dependent, Poorer, and More Care-Demanding? An Analysis of the Relationship between Being Dependent, Household Income, and Formal and Informal Care Use in Spain

Population ageing is one of the current challenges that most societies are facing, with great implications for health systems and social services, including long-term care. This increasing long-term care use is particularly rising for dependent older people, motivating the implementation of regional dependency laws to ensure their care needs’ coverage. Using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) from the year 2004 until 2017, the aim of this study is to assess the impact that the Spanish System for Personal Autonomy and Dependency might have on (i) household income, according to different needs for care levels, by running Generalized Linear Models (GLMs); and (ii) formal and informal care use depending on the income-related determinant through the performance of logit random-effects regression models. We show that the different degrees of needs for personal care are associated with a lower household income, being associated with an income reduction from €3300 to nearly €3800, depending on the covariates included, per year for the more severely in-need-for-care older adults. Moreover, our findings point towards a higher use of formal and informal care services by the moderate and severe dependents groups, regardless of the household income group and time period. Bearing in mind the demographic ageing, our results highlight the need for the identification of potentially vulnerable populations and the efficient planification of long-term care systems and social support services.