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P1As populations across the world grow older, societies are increasingly compelled to ask who should bear responsibility for caring for the elderly. Some maintain that this duty falls squarely on families, while others insist it is properly the responsibility of the state. This essay will examine both positions before setting out my own.

P2Those who argue that families should shoulder the burden appeal to tradition and to the bonds of affection. For most of human history, several generations shared a roof and children cared as a matter of course for their ageing parents, repaying the sacrifices once made for them. Care delivered by loving relatives, supporters contend, is more compassionate and personal than anything an institution can provide, and it preserves the dignity and the family ties that elderly people hold dear.

P3Advocates of state responsibility, by contrast, point to the hard realities of modern life. Families today are smaller and more geographically scattered, and with the great majority of adults in full-time employment, few possess the time or the training to care properly for a frail or seriously ill relative. Professional care funded by the state, they argue, guarantees a dependable standard for everyone, including the childless and the isolated, and spares families the crushing financial and emotional strain that intensive caregiving so often inflicts.