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And is there any data on the scope of this caregiving imbalance?
关于这种照料失衡的程度，是否有任何数据？
Yeah, there was a great study by Diego Alburez-Gutierrez and his colleagues.
又，迭戈·阿尔布雷斯-古铁雷斯和他的同事们进行了一项很棒的研究。
Diego is a social scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany.
迭戈是德国罗斯托克马克斯·普朗克人口研究所的一名社会科学家。
He and his colleagues looked at how family sizes are changing and how that could affect the amount of support that a caregiver may have.
他和他的同事们研究了家庭规模的变化情况，以及它可能对护理人员可能得到的支持有何影响。
So the researchers looked at the average 65-year-old person, which is the typical retirement age in the U.S., and they asked how many relatives that person would have today versus in 1950 or in 2095.
研究人员观察了平均年龄为65岁的人，这是美国传统的退休年龄，他们询问与1950年或2095年相比，这个人现在有多少亲戚。
Here's Diego.
这是迭戈发言。
So in the U.S., for example, we project that this 65-year-old person—you can think of, like, it's her birthday; she invites all of her relatives.
比如说在美国，我们预测一个65岁的人——你可以想象一下，比如她要过生日；她邀请了所有的亲戚。
Whereas now there are going to be around 30 people around, if that same person, or a person of that age, towards the end of the century, she organizes a party, there are only going to be about 20 relatives that can attend that party.
她大概会邀请到30人，而同样还是这个人，或者跟她同龄的人，在本世纪末组织聚会时，大约只会邀请到20个亲戚。
And internationally, they found that a woman who turns 65 in the year 2095 will have just 25 living relatives, compared with 41 relatives in 1950 and 43 relatives in 2023.
在国际上，他们发现，2095年65岁的女性将只有25个在世的亲属，而1950年时她们有41个亲属，2023年有43个亲属。
Wow, that does seem like a stark change. So what are the implications of that?
哇，这看起来确实是一个鲜明的变化。那么，这意味着什么呢？
Yeah, so it basically means that there's just fewer young people around to take care of their parents or grandparents, and the sort of proportion of younger working people is declining relative to the older population who needs care.
是的，这基本上意味着周围照顾父母或祖父母的年轻人越来越少，年轻工作人口的比例相对于需要照顾的老年人口正在下降。
So this is something called a dependency ratio, and this really puts a squeeze on those younger caregivers.
这就是所谓的抚养比率，这确实给那些年轻的照顾者带来了压力。
Yeah, well, and it's not like these younger generations are in a particularly great financial climate to, you know, help their family members in ways other than being there physically to help give them care.
是的，而且现在的年轻一代所处的经济环境也不是特别好，除了身体力行照顾家人之外，他们也没有其他更好的方式来帮助家人。
So I can imagine that that pressure is probably really at a boiling point for some people, and it sounds like this is only going to become more of an issue as time goes on.
所以我能想象，对一些人来说，这种压力可能真的达到了顶点，而且听起来随着时间的推移，这种情况只会越来越严重。
Yeah, absolutely.
是的，肯定的。
And another stress that people are dealing with is that many people are taking care of their own children at the same time.
还有一个人们正在应对的压力是，许多人同时还要照顾自己的孩子。
That's why, a lot of times, people are referred to as being part of the "sandwich generation," because they're basically sandwiched between caring for their older parents and their younger children at the same time.
这就是为什么很多时候，人们被称为“三明治一代”的部分原因，因为他们基本上同时夹在照顾年长的父母和年幼的孩子之间。
So that's something that I think we're going to continue to see more and more of over time, especially as people live longer and as people wait longer to have children of their own.
我认为随着时间的推移，这种现象会越来越普遍，尤其是当人们寿命更长，并且生孩子的年龄越来越晚的时候。
Sure.
是的。
And you know, of course, beyond how this impacts individual families, there are then a lot of systemic issues that, you know, can interact with this and exacerbate it, I'm sure.
当然，这些问题除了对单个家庭产生影响之外，还会带来很多系统性的问题，它们会相互作用并使其进一步加剧，这是肯定的。
So who's getting hit hardest by this demographic shift?
那么，谁在这种人口变化中受到的冲击最大呢？
So I just want to say, you know, this is something that every family probably faces to some extent, but there's obviously particular challenges for some individuals, especially families of color, who are facing, like you said, these structural barriers and, a lot of times, just don't have the resources to maybe send their parent or relative to, you know, a facility or get additional care.
我想说的是，每个家庭可能都在某种程度上面临着这样的问题，但对一些人，特别是有色人种家庭来说，他们显然面临着特殊的挑战，就像你说的，这些家庭面临着结构性障碍，而且很多时候，他们可能没有资源把父母或亲戚送到机构去或得到额外的照顾。
So another pattern that you see a lot is, you know, a lot of people in these families have multigenerational households, so you've got Grandma living under the same roof as the grandkids.
所以你会看到另一种模式，这些人的家庭是多代同堂的，奶奶和孙子孙女住在同一个屋檐下。
And that's a great thing in many ways, but it also means that the stresses for that middle generation are especially acute, and it's harder to balance those needs with everyday tasks, you know, jobs, taking care of your own needs.
在很多方面，这都是好事，但它同时也意味着，这一代人的压力尤其大，而且更难在这些需求与日常任务之间取得平衡，比如工作，照顾自己的需求。
So I think that's one of the things that we're seeing.
所以这就是我们看到的事情之一。
Yeah.
嗯。
And we actually talked to Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez, who's the commissioner for the New York City Department (for) the Aging, and we heard from her earlier this episode.
实际上，我们与洛林·科尔特斯-巴斯克斯进行了交谈，她是纽约市老龄化部门的专员，我们在本期节目早些时候收到了她的消息。
I am an older adult myself caring for an older mother.
我本身就是个老人，还在照顾更年迈的母亲。
We asked her about whether caregiving can come with additional challenges for families of color.
我们问她，对有色人种家庭来说，照顾亲人是否会带来额外的挑战。
I think that caregiving is a comfortable role for communities of color.
我认为，提供照料者这个角色对有色人种社区来说是舒服的。
The challenges for communities of color, usually, are the challenges that communities of color have, which is—is housing adequate so that if you have to make the decision, does your care recipient come live with you, or can they still live independently?
对有色人种社区来说，通常面临的挑战是，他们是否有足够的住房，以便在必须做出决定时，他们要照顾的人是跟他们住在一起，还是说可以分开独立居住？
It's finances. All of the social determinants, you know, are there of inequity.
这是财务问题。所有的社会决定因素都是不平等的。
They manifest themselves again in one's older life, as well as in a caregiving role.
它们会在一个人的晚年生活中再次显现出来，也会在照顾者角色中显现出来。
