Developing a Reform Strategy for Elderly Social Care Services in Greece

The project supported the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of Greece in developing a strategy to improve accessibility, quality and efficiency of aged long-term care in Greece through gaining a deep understanding of the current operations of the government programs, as well as the demand and overall supply of aged long-term care in Greece.

Context

Greece is a country that experiences rapid population aging. The share of elderly population aged 65+ is poised to increase from 22 percent in 2016 to a peak of 37 percent in 2050. These trends translate into an increase of the old-age dependency and are concurrent with a shrinking of the overall population in Greece brought about by low fertility and outmigration. With a view to improve accessibility, quality and efficiency of long-term and aged long-term care available to the elderly in Greece, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs requested technical support via the Structural Reform Support Programme.

Support delivered

The project has been conducted by the World Bank and the support included:

• Assembly of a technical report outlining the mapping of the current situation of aged long-term care services in Greece, with a particular focus on the provision by the publicly-financed programs and the analysis of the demand for aged long-term care services in Greece; 
• Drafting of a policy note outlining the proposed key elements of a proposed strategy for the implementation of the reform of aged long-term care services for the elderly in Greece.

Results achieved

The development of a comprehensive strategy for the provision of integrated social care services to elderly people. Based on the assessment of the current system and exploration of good practice examples from other Member States, Greece will be in a better position to reform and improve its system for aged-long term care.

More about the project

Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Hellenic Republic