INGEV Completed The Research for “The Proactive Side of Elderly Care Services in Turkey and Its Financial Burden Analysis Project”

INGEV Completed The Research for “The Proactive Side of Elderly Care Services in Turkey and Its Financial Burden Analysis Project”

The study was conducted in 2016 on behalf of Ministry of Family and Social Policies. The objectives of the study are determining geographical distribution of elderly population in Turkey and projecting the financial burden of elderly care services on public in the near future.

In the scope of the study a series of topics are covered including historical development of aging population in the world and Turkey, current situation and types of public care services offered to elderly population in Turkey and types of care service models in different countries. Beside background information about elderly population and care services,  future operating and infrastructure cost of current care service models that provided by public sector are projected based on population projections of TUIK within the study.

Population projections estimate that every 10 people in 2023, 4 people in 2050 and 3 people in 2075 will be included in the elderly population in Turkey. The increase in life expectancy will lead to increase in the proportion of the eldest (85+ ages) among the elderly in the coming years. The increase in the average age of elderly population over time will increase the population requiring institutional care and health  expenditures .  When the aging speed of Turkey is compared with developed countries it is clear that Turkey has a limited time to plan the financial burden of aging and care services.

Public funded elderly care services in Turkey consist of cash aid and institutional care services covering a very limited number of elderly. As of 2015, only 1,7% of the 9,5 million elderly received a kind of public-based care.

In order to estimate financial costs of public funded elderly care services until 2023, three scenarios were run. In the first scenario, it is assumed that the demand for public care services will be at the same level as today and in the second scenario it will reach to OECD average. The third scenario estimates  the demand according to statement of those who want to receive institutional care service in old age in TAYA 2011 research. All three projections show that if public care service model continues as it does today, it is very hard to meet the demand in the future and even  if the demand can be met, operational and infrastructure costs will be extremely high.

This situation shows urgent need for reorganization of social services and introducing new care systems in Turkey. The study suggests four areas to improve elderly care services; easy access to elderly care services for all needy people, sharing the responsibility and care service delivery between central and local governments, organizational restructuring of health and social services for the joint delivery of services, diversification of elderly care services, primarily home care services.

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