There are over 220,000 people providing unpaid care for sick or disabled family members in Northern Ireland, representing 1 in 8 of the population. This includes over 180,000 unpaid carers of working age.

What do we know about women, unpaid caring and employment in Northern Ireland?

Unpaid carers are a diverse population, encompassing child and young adult carers through to carers of pension age – and support people with health conditions like cancer, stroke, progressive neurological conditions and visual impairment; mental ill-health; learning disabilities; terminal illnesses, and more. For some, their caring role will be life long, for others it will be a sudden, perhaps unexpected, role change. The intensity of care provided also varies; for some it can be a few hours per week, others are caring around the clock.

Unpaid caring has a gendered dimension, with women making up 59% of all carers in Northern Ireland and those carers of working age.

Read the full report here.