1. There are between 18 - 25 million family caregivers in the United States. That’s about 10% of the adult population.
2. Family caregivers provide 2/3 of all of the home care services in this country.
3. The market value of the services that family caregivers provide is over $190 billion a year.
4. 80% of all family caregivers are women.
5. 70% of family caregivers are between 40 - 59 years of age.
6. 65% of caregivers don’t get any help from family or friends.
7. 69% of caregivers say that frustration is their most frequently felt emotion.
8. Caregivers rate loss of leisure, the change in family dynamics, and feelings of isolation as the most burdensome aspect of family caregiving.
9. Virtually 1/2 of all family caregivers say they have suffered from prolonged depression.
10. More people enter nursing homes because of caregiver burnout, rather than because of a worsening of their condition.

Many of these statistics are drawn from a Caregiver Member Survey conducted by the
National Family Caregivers Association
9621 E. Bexhill Drive
Kensington, MD 20895-3104
301/942-6430 FAX: 301/942-2302
800/896-3650

From the Fall '96 issue of Hopes & Dreams, newsletter of the Illinois Chapter, Huntington's Disease Society of America.

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