Long-term care policies in practice: a European perspective
A comprehensive study of the long-term care (LTC) systems in Germany, France, Slovenia, Italy and Denmark

This paper offers a comprehensive study of the long-term care (LTC) systems in Germany, France, Slovenia, Italy and Denmark. In many EU countries, the demand for LTC services already exceeds supply. Without major reforms, this ‘care gap’ is likely to widen further because of population ageing. This paper highlights a number of recent reforms to reduce this care gap by affecting the demand for and supply of long-term care services. We find that most measures to increase the supply of formal LTC services focus on workforce attractiveness. By examining recent policy efforts and reforms, we aim to understand in which direction LTC policy is going, and to showcase measures to prepare for the future increase in demand for care.
We thank Axel Boersch-Supan, Elsa Perdrix, Cristiano Gori and participants in a BB-Future workshop in Madrid, 11-12 September 2024, for helpful comments and discussion. Funded by the European Union as part of the BB-Future project that has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions under grant agreement No. 101093849. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily refl ect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.