What does this research mean for the field?

Unmet long-term care needs among older adults in South Korea have increased sharply due to a rapid decline in family caregiving that has outpaced the expansion of formal care systems. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.INCREMENTAL. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

Examine temporal changes in unmet long-term care (LTC) needs among older adults with functional limitations and identify the specific factors contributing to these trends.

August 30, 2026European Journal of AgeingOpen Access

De-familialization of care and the emerging crisis of unmet needs among older adults in South Korea

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Authors

YSYeonjae SongSeoul National University SYSunghun YunGachon University CCChangyong ChoiSeoul National University

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Implication

Repeated cross-sectional study reveals surging unmet long-term care needs in functionally impaired older adults, indicating that formal care growth has lagged behind the decline in family caregiving.

Key Points

Examine temporal changes in unmet long-term care (LTC) needs among older adults with functional limitations and identify the specific factors contributing to these trends.
Analyzed repeated cross-sectional data from the National Survey of Older Koreans in 2014 (n=1,754) and 2023 (n=1,648) targeting community-dwelling adults aged ≥65 years with at least one limitation in ADL or IADL.
Employed Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition grounded in Andersen's Behavioral Model of Health Services Use to evaluate the influence of predisposing, need, and enabling factors on unmet care changes.
Unmet LTC needs surged from 20.1% in 2014 to 54.7% in 2023 despite long-term care insurance expansion, with 77.9% of this rise explained by shifts in observable characteristics.
Family-provided care dropped from 72.7% in 2014 to 36.4% in 2023, emerging as the dominant driver of rising unmet care, though only 13.6% of this reduction was explained by sociodemographic or family structure shifts.

Cite This Study

Song et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a93f0696c1a8fb52e79c855 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-026-00945-6

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Implication

Repeated cross-sectional study reveals surging unmet long-term care needs in functionally impaired older adults, indicating that formal care growth has lagged behind the decline in family caregiving.

De-familialization of care and the emerging crisis of unmet needs among older adults in South Korea

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

De-familialization of care and the emerging crisis of unmet needs among older adults in South Korea

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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