The Czech Republic will need 35,000 new beds in nursing homes by 2035 due to the ageing population, according to a new study on long-term social care presented yesterday at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. This would require around CZK 70 billion of investment.
Labour and Social Affairs Minister Ales Juchelka (ANO) said that it is already clear that the financing of long-term social care cannot be achieved without contributions from private individuals, given the ageing population.
The minister also said he wants to have digitised information about the field by the end of 2027. Currently, the data are obscured by issues such as duplicate client applications, and there is no registry of social service workers, he noted.
The study was conducted by the consulting firm Deloitte for the Association of Social Service Providers (APSS).
The social care system’s annual real costs would rise from CZK 80 to 137 billion as services are expanded to accommodate the growing number of people aged over 65. Even so, this would not fully meet the demand for facilities and support for care at home.
“The current structure of the system, based on the separate operation of social and health services and a high proportion of informal care within families, is not sustainable in the long term,” warned the study. “Without a change in organisational and operational logic, there is a risk of further growth in unmet demand, regional inequalities and the burden on caregiving families.”
The Czech population is ageing rapidly. While some 82,500 people over the age of 85 needed care in 2024, that number could rise to 155,300 in 2035 and exceed 217,700 in 2050. In 2024, roughly 213,000 people over 65 had a high need for support, while that number could exceed 305,000 by 2035.
The study outlines three scenarios. The basic scenario calls for expanding nursing homes, community-based services and family support in line with the growth in the senior population. In the second scenario, the number of beds is frozen, and the burden is shifted to families and the healthcare system, and in the third one, care would be provided by new nursing homes with beds.
“Future developments cannot be addressed by choosing a single form of care, but can only be solved through a combination of multiple tools and a systematic change in how the entire system operates, with an emphasis on effectively linking the public and private sectors both in terms of financing and operation,” the study states.
According to the authors, there were 76,000 beds in nursing homes in 2024, while the demand stood at 121,000. Under the basic scenario, 35,000 new beds could be added by 2035 for CZK 70 billion, with investment shared between the public and private sectors. However, the demand could reach 171,000 beds. If care were to be provided exclusively in nursing homes, 120,000 new beds would be needed, which would require CZK 240 billion.
The number of clients of field care services is predicted to rise from 96,000 to 141,000 between 2024 and 2035, and the number of caregivers in these services would increase from 34,000 to 55,000.
About 139,000 people received home care in the Czech Republic two years ago. By 2035, that number could reach 190,000. The number of family members caring for them would rise from 97,000 to 136,000, and the total real costs of the system would rise from CZK 80 to 137 billion.
According to the study, it will be necessary to strengthen outreach and outpatient services, integrate the social and health sectors, secure funding from both public and private sources, ensure adequate staffing, support family caregivers, guarantee the quality of care, and advance digitisation.
APSS Director Jiri Horecky proposes that the government prepare a national investment plan and establish a committee on service accessibility to coordinate the process. The integration of health and social services should be ensured by the law on long-term care. Salaries in the social services sector should also increase, and a central registry of applicants should be created.
Juchelka said yesterday that experts from his ministry have been tasked with presenting options for financing long-term social care in the coming years by mid-2027 at the latest.
