By Livia Bizikova and Hajra Atiq, IISD

Across the world, economies depend heavily on care work – yet much of it remains unseen. From childcare and eldercare to cooking and cleaning, women consistently shoulder a greater share of care responsibilities than men. This pattern is evident in countries as diverse as Bangladesh, Canada, Ghana, Italy, Japan, and Mexico, where women spend significantly more time on unpaid care and household work. While care is essential to economic and social life, the time and effort invested in it remain largely invisible in economic statistics and policy frameworks.

The scale of care work is substantial. Statistics Canada estimates that in Canada, paid care work contributes approximately 12.6-13% of Canada’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and represents about 22% of total employment. The economic value of unpaid household and care work is estimated at CAD 517-860 billion annually, equivalent to 25-37% of Canada’s GDP, depending on the valuation method. Despite its scale, this value is largely absent from the indicators that shape economic planning and public investment decisions.

Why GDP falls short – and why care matters

There are growing concerns that GDP is unable to adequately capture environmental degradation, inequality, and long‑term sustainability. While these limitations have long been recognized, momentum to complement GDP has accelerated within the UN. Through the Pact for the Future, world leaders committed to developing a small set of country‑owned indicators that go beyond GDP.

To advance this commitment, the UN Secretary‑General established the High‑Level Expert Group (HLEG) on Beyond GDP in 2025. The group is finalizing recommendations and a dashboard of well‑being and sustainability indicators, expected in April 2026. Action by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) is anticipated in September 2026. As countries begin to consider how these metrics will be implemented, measuring and valuing care work – both paid and unpaid – has emerged as a central concern.

Care as a pillar of sustainable development

The care economy is increasingly recognized as a core pillar of sustainable development. Investment in care generates employment, improves health and well‑being, strengthens social cohesion, and advances gender and social equality. Globally, the care sector could create up to 299 million jobs by 2035, with an estimated return of USD 3.76 in GDP for every dollar invested.

Despite this potential, care work – particularly unpaid care – remains systematically undervalued and under‑resourced. As governments seek economic frameworks that better reflect lived realities and long‑term prosperity, integrating care into beyond GDP approaches is essential.

Understanding the “onion” of care

The care economy is often described as an “onion,” composed of multiple, interconnected layers. For example, direct care includes relational activities such as feeding a child, supporting a person with a disability, or caring for an ill family member. Indirect care refers to domestic tasks such as cooking, cleaning, and household management.

While paid care workers such as nurses, eldercare providers, community health workers, and early childhood educators are compensated for their labor, albeit often inadequately, much domestic and household work remains unpaid and excluded from monetary valuation. Sustaining human capabilities depends on the continuous interaction of paid and unpaid care across households, communities, and institutions.

Inequality at the core of care

Inequality is embedded in how care work is distributed and valued. Women and girls shoulder a disproportionate share of care responsibilities, often limiting their participation in paid work, education, and public life. Even when care work is paid, it is frequently performed by women in vulnerable or marginalized situations, including migrants, who often face wage gaps, job insecurity, and poor working conditions.

These disparities vary across contexts and intersect with race, ethnicity, class, and cultural norms. Recognizing care as a complex social service – rather than a collection of isolated tasks – shifts attention toward the systemic investments required to sustain societies and economic productivity.

Measuring care in beyond GDP frameworks

If care is essential to development, how should it be measured? A recent report by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), the Centre for the Implementation of Public Policies for Equity and Growth (CIPECC), and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) reviews approaches to measuring care across regions and assesses how care can be integrated into alternative metrics capturing human capital and well‑being. While concerns persist about monetizing unpaid care – and the risk of reducing relational work to a financial proxy – the absence of measurement perpetuates invisibility in policy and budget decisions.

To measure care, countries are increasingly applying a range of tools, including time‑use surveys, economic valuation, household satellite accounts, quality‑of‑life indicators, and policy scorecards. For example, in Bangladesh, the government announced that from the 2025-2026 fiscal year onward, women’s unpaid care and domestic work would be formally accounted for in GDP, drawing on national time‑use survey data. Other examples include the Africa Care Economy Index, which tracks the recognition of and support for care across 54 countries.

Making care visible

Care measurement is gaining momentum in international policy processes. Recent discussions at the UN Statistical Commission (UNSC) and regional exchanges have emphasized moving from technical measurement to policy use. Looking ahead, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has launched a formal statistical standard‑setting process on care work, creating an important opportunity to improve coherence and comparability across countries.

Ultimately, integrating care into economic measurement is not only a technical task – it is a political and societal choice. Making care visible is essential for advancing beyond GDP agendas and building more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable economies.

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This story is based on IISD’s recent publication titled, ‘A Measure of Care: How countries strive to move beyond GDP and capture the value of invisible work.’By highlighting topics of theoretical and conceptual significance, including suggestions and applications of specific indicators and indices to complement GDP, the story aims to inform and support sustainable development decision makers in their efforts to go beyond GDP. This project was made possible through financial support provided by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).