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The “Sandwich Generation” revisited: global demographic drivers of care time demands

Author

Listed:
  • Diego Alburez-Gutierrez

    (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany)

  • Carl Mason
  • Emilio Zagheni

    (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany)

Abstract

Generational overlap affects the care time demands on parents and grandparents worldwide. Here, we present the first global estimates of the experience of simultaneously having frail older parents and young children (“sandwichness”) or young grandchildren (“grandsandwichness”) for the 1970-2040 cohorts using demographic methods and microsimulations. We find that sandwichness is more prevalent in the Global South – e.g., almost twice as prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa as it is in Europe for the 1970 cohort – but is expected to decline globally by one-third between 1970 and 2040. The Global North might have reached a peak in the simultaneous care time demands from multiple generations but the duration of the grandsandwich state will increase by up to one year in Africa and Asia. This increasing generational overlap implies more care time demands over the entire adult life course but also opens up the opportunity for the full potential of grandparenthood to materialize.

Suggested Citation

  • Diego Alburez-Gutierrez & Carl Mason & Emilio Zagheni, 2020. "The “Sandwich Generation” revisited: global demographic drivers of care time demands," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2020-037, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2020-037
    DOI: 10.4054/MPIDR-WP-2020-037
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Rachel Margolis & Ashton M. Verdery, 2019. "A Cohort Perspective on the Demography of Grandparenthood: Past, Present, and Future Changes in Race and Sex Disparities in the United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(4), pages 1495-1518, August.
    2. Christine McGarrigle & Hilary Cronin & Rose Kenny, 2014. "The impact of being the intermediate caring generation and intergenerational transfers on self-reported health of women in Ireland," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 59(2), pages 301-308, April.
    3. Rachel Margolis & Laura Wright, 2017. "Healthy Grandparenthood: How Long Is It, and How Has It Changed?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(6), pages 2073-2099, December.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    World; demographic ageing; dependency; developing countries; generations; microsimulation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

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