Making Care Count: A Vision for Inclusive Care Economies

Dr Basani Baloyi argues that unpaid care work is an invisible economic powerhouse that sustains global systems but remains excluded from GDP calculations. The address highlights Brazil's National Caregiving Policy and South Africa's G20 priorities as models for transformation. It asserts that investing in care infrastructure—guided by the ILO's 5R framework—would generate significant GDP returns, create millions of jobs, and address the looming demographic crisis of an aging global population.

• Unpaid care work represents a massive, invisible contribution to the global economy; if compensated at market rates, it would equal 9% of global GDP, or approximately 11 trillion dollars annually, which exceeds the total GDP of China.
• Brazil has pioneered a 'whole-of-government' approach to care by introducing a bill for a National Caregiving Policy developed through collaboration across twenty ministries, academic institutions, and various levels of government.
• South Africa's G20 presidency focuses on three primary goals for care economy transformation: developing policy perspectives on paid and unpaid care and household duties, increasing financial inclusion for women, and combating femicide and gender-based violence.
• Strategic investment in the care economy offers high economic returns: a 1.3 trillion dollar investment in social jobs could yield a 3.1 trillion dollar GDP return and 10 million jobs in the US, while global investments in childcare and long-term care could create 203 million jobs by 2035.
• The world faces a critical demographic transition where 2.3 billion adults and 100 million children will require care services by 2030, with 80% of the elderly population living in low- and middle-income countries by 2050.
• The International Labour Organisation (ILO) provides a '5R framework' for care transformation: Recognise care work in planning, Reduce the burden via technology and infrastructure, Redistribute responsibilities, Represent workers in decisions, and Reward work with social protection and decent wages.

APA

Baloyi, B. (2025). Making Care Count: A Vision for Inclusive Care Economies. Institute for Economic Justice. https://iej.org.za/2025/07/making-care-count_a-vision-for-inclusive-care-economies/

Chicago

Baloyi, Basani. Making Care Count: A Vision for Inclusive Care Economies. Institute for Economic Justice, 2025. https://iej.org.za/2025/07/making-care-count_a-vision-for-inclusive-care-economies/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Baloyi |first1=Basani |title=Making Care Count: A Vision for Inclusive Care Economies |publisher=Institute for Economic Justice |date=1 July 2025 |url=https://iej.org.za/2025/07/making-care-count_a-vision-for-inclusive-care-economies/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{baloyi2025making, author = {Baloyi, Basani}, title = {{Making Care Count: A Vision for Inclusive Care Economies}}, publisher = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2025}, month = jul, url = {https://iej.org.za/2025/07/making-care-count_a-vision-for-inclusive-care-economies/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }