A Measure of Care

The report analyzes the systemic invisibility of the care economy in national statistics, specifically how GDP overlooks unpaid care work disproportionately performed by women. It reviews five primary measurement approaches: time-use surveys, economic valuation (opportunity and replacement costs), policy indices/scorecards, quality-of-life metrics, and household satellite accounts. Using case studies from Canada, Bangladesh, the UK, and Africa, the document demonstrates that unpaid care can represent a significant portion of national wealth—for example, estimated at 25% to 37% of Canada's GDP in 2021. The report concludes that moving beyond GDP requires a cohesive, integrated system of measurement to recognize care as a structural pillar of development and a fundamental investment in human capabilities.

• GDP is an insufficient measure of progress because it overlooks essential contributions such as social capital, volunteering, and household activities, creating a "glaring blind spot in how we measure economic prosperity and progress".
• There is a profound gender imbalance in the care economy; women and girls provide more than 75% of unpaid care work globally, and it is projected that by 2050, women will still spend 2.3 more hours per day on such work than men.
• Investment in the care economy is a significant driver of employment and economic return, with the potential to create 299 million jobs by 2035 and deliver a global GDP return of USD 3.76 for every dollar invested.
• Time-use surveys are the foundational tool for care measurement, used by 25 OECD countries and 77 countries reviewed by the ILO between 2000 and 2016 to monitor unpaid care work.
• Economic valuation of unpaid care in Canada for 2021 estimated that such work accounted for between 25% and 37% of the country's GDP, while paid care work was valued at 12.6% of GDP.
• The Africa Care Economy Index (ACEI), which measures social recognition and state support across 54 countries, found that no country reached the passing mark of 18 points, with the highest score being Burkina Faso at 7.25.
• In the United Kingdom, the value of unpaid household service work in 2023 was estimated at GBP 1.7 trillion, representing 61% of GDP.
• The 'caregiver burden' serves as a systemic stress indicator; when care is perceived as a burden, it signals that society is transferring disproportionate production costs of human capabilities to families and women.
• Household Satellite Accounts (HSAs) allow for the capture of unpaid care work that is excluded from GDP, and when combined with statistical matching, they can reveal the 'time tax' paid by the most precarious sectors of society.
• Most existing beyond-GDP frameworks, such as the Human Development Index and the Doughnut Economy, focus on gender disparities in income or health but fail to explicitly incorporate direct measures of the care economy.

APA

Bizikova, L., Atiq, H., D’Alessandre, V., & Sachetti, F. C. (2026). A Measure of Care. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2026-03/measure-of-care-economy-beyond-gdp.pdf

Chicago

Bizikova, Livia, Hajra Atiq, Vanesa D’Alessandre, and Florencia Caro Sachetti. A Measure of Care. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2026. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2026-03/measure-of-care-economy-beyond-gdp.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bizikova |first1=Livia |last2=Atiq |first2=Hajra |last3=D’Alessandre |first3=Vanesa |last4=Sachetti |first4=Florencia Caro |title=A Measure of Care |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=March 2026 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2026-03/measure-of-care-economy-beyond-gdp.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bizikova2026measure, author = {Bizikova, Livia and Atiq, Hajra and D’Alessandre, Vanesa and Sachetti, Florencia Caro}, title = {{A Measure of Care}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2026}, month = mar, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2026-03/measure-of-care-economy-beyond-gdp.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }