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Abstract

What happens when people’s care needs remain unmet? Is this simply an individual or family problem, or does it reveal deeper inequalities in how societies organize care? Drawing on comparative research across Taiwan, East Asia, and European welfare states, this talk explores care poverty as a multidimensional form of social deprivation shaped by welfare regimes, family relations, markets, gender, housing, and formal services. Comparisons between Taiwan and Finland reveal that different welfare systems generate different forms of personal, practical, and socioemotional care poverty. The discussion further extends from aging in place to aging in institutions, asking whether receiving basic care necessarily guarantees autonomy, meaningful relationships, and choice. The talk ultimately invites us to rethink care poverty as not merely unmet need, but a broader question of social inequality, rights, and welfare-state responsibility.