Care Deficit

A care deficit is defined as “a lack of paid care (or affordable paid care) and a lack of or insufficient informal, unpaid, family care” (Zimmerman/Litt/Bose 2006: 371) when the demand for care services is not met and a shortage situation arises, i.e., when more care work is needed than is or can be provided. When care deficits are not limited to individual households but extend regionally, nationally, or globally, a care crisis arises (cf. Knobloch 2013a: 24).