This open access book turns the research attention of social policy scholars and long-term care
researchers from comparative descriptions of care systems focusing mostly on expenditures and
volumes of long-term care services to outcomes and in particular to the question whether
older people really receive the support that they need. Without knowledge about which needs and
which social groups are currently inadequately covered it is impossible to guide policy
development. The book puts forward a novel theoretical framework to guide future research work
and public discussion on the issue of unmet long-term care needs by broadening the current
discussion so that inadequate care is seen in its societal and policy contexts taking
structural issues and policy designs into account. Kröger outlines three different domains of
care poverty (personal care poverty practical care poverty and socio-emotional care poverty)
and differentiates between main methods how unmet needs are measured. This book summarises the
existing knowledge on the prevalence factors and consequences of unmet care needs and
interprets these comparatively in the light of social inequalities and care policy models of
different welfare states. It will be invaluable to students and scholars of social policy
social work social gerontology sociology and political science and to all disciplines across
the field of social sciences that study welfare state policies and care for older people.
