Why more seniors are being asked to care for their partners — alone

Special thanks to Lewis Saret (Attorney, Washington, D.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.

While caring for an aging person can be financially and emotionally draining for adult children, the undertaking raises a separate set of challenges for spouses. These partners are typically seniors themselves — close to half are 75 or older — and they are more likely to be caring for someone with long-term health challenges, according to a 2025 report from the National Alliance for Caregiving and the advocacy group AARP.

Those factors put them at risk of burning through savings they might need for their own care, and at greater risk of suffering injuries from the physical demands of caretaking, experts in elder care said.

The ranks of older adults caring for fellow older adults are only expected to increase as lifespans lengthen and family sizes shrink: Adults 65 and older are projected to account for about 1 in 4 Americans by 2050, up more than 30 percent from 2024. That compares with 1 in 10 in the 1980s.

Today’s smaller families may also factor into the rise of spousal caregivers, said Amy Goyer, an AARP family and caregiving expert who spent years caring for her parents and other family members. About 15 percent of family caregivers were spouses or partners last year, compared with 10 percent a decade prior, according to the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP surveys.

Spouses, siblings, children and other family members are the “cornerstone” of the United States’ long-term care system, backfilling for a dearth of affordable professional care, said Jennifer Ailshire, a professor of gerontology and sociology at the University of Southern California.

For more information see Shannon Najmabadi “Why more seniors are being asked to care for their partners — alone,” The Washington Post, January 15, 2026.