• Women continue to shoulder the overwhelming burden of unpaid care work
• Rising migration, declining birth rates, growing elderly population intensify pressure on families
• Private daycare, eldercare sectors set to come under nationwide regulatory framework
• Mandatory NVQ qualifications, regulations, national standards proposed for caregivers, care institutions
• Authorities warn that informal care system is becoming economically, socially unsustainable
• National strategy aims to transform caregiving from invisible domestic labour into recognised professional work 

Sri Lanka is preparing to formally restructure and regulate its caregiving sector under a long-term national strategy aimed at addressing the country’s rapidly ageing population, low female labour force participation, and the growing economic strain created by unpaid domestic care work. 

The move, which officials describe as one of the country’s emerging socioeconomic priorities, includes plans to professionalise caregiving through mandatory vocational qualifications, establish national standards for daycare centres and eldercare services, regulate private providers, and create a formal labour structure around a sector that has historically functioned almost entirely within households and largely through the unpaid labour of women. 

Speaking to The Sunday Morning, Department of Manpower and Employment Director – Human Resource Management B.H.C. Shiromali said that although caregiving had always existed as an integral social responsibility within Sri Lankan households, it had remained economically invisible for decades. 

“The concept of the care economy is a relatively new formal economic term in Sri Lanka, though the practice itself is culturally ancient,” she said. “In our society, caring for children and the elderly has always been a fundamental duty, but it has historically remained invisible in economic data because it is largely unpaid care.”

The labour force picture

The 2024 Sri Lanka Labour Force Survey revealed significant gender disparities in labour market participation, particularly regarding women’s roles in the informal sector and household-related activities. 

In 2024, the female labour force participation rate stood at 29.8%, a decrease from 36.6% in 2017, while the male participation rate stood much higher at 67.4%. Female participation varies significantly by residential sector; it is lowest in urban areas at 27%, slightly higher in rural areas at 30%, and highest in the estate sector at 39.7%. 

A defining feature of female economic status in Sri Lanka is high levels of economic inactivity, often tied to domestic responsibilities. Some 70.2% of the working-age female population is recorded as economically inactive, compared to only 32.6% of males. 

The primary reason cited by females for being economically inactive is being engaged in housework, accounting for 58.6% of inactive women – a sharp contrast to inactive males, of whom only 4.9% cited housework as their reason for inactivity. Women are also disproportionately represented as unpaid contributing family workers, a category often linked to informal care and family-run agricultural or business tasks, making up 74.7% of all contributing family workers in Sri Lanka. 

According to Shiromali, this invisibility has had direct economic consequences. “Our research shows that over 80% of those providing care for children, the elderly, or family members with disabilities at home are women,” she said. “This has created a significant hurdle for our national development: the female labour force participation rate in Sri Lanka is critically low, currently standing at less than 35%.” 

She noted that despite substantial investment in women’s education, a large segment of qualified women remained economically inactive because caregiving responsibilities prevented them from entering or remaining in paid employment. 

“We invest heavily in the higher education of women, but a vast number of these skilled individuals are trapped at home by caregiving responsibilities, meaning the country loses out on their professional and economic contributions,” she added. 

The informal economy is a major employer for women, but with significant vulnerabilities. Some 47.7% of employed women work in the informal sector, and using a broader definition, 58.8% of employed women are in informal employment. 

Among women in informal employment as employees, the majority hold temporary positions, with 425,556 not entitled to annual paid leave and 407,037 lacking a formal appointment letter. At the same time, women dominate certain professional categories, contributing 62.6% of employment in the professionals’ group, which includes teachers, doctors, and nurses.

An ageing nation

Sri Lanka is experiencing one of the fastest-growing ageing populations in Asia, with the percentage of citizens over 60 rising from 12% in 2012 to 18% in 2024 – approximately 2.7 million people – and projected to reach 25% by 2040. This shift, caused by higher life expectancy and declining birth rates, poses significant challenges for economic growth and social security systems. 

The nation is ageing faster than other South Asian countries, moving towards a scenario where one in four people will be elderly by 2040. The population aged 75 and older is also rising rapidly, increasing pressure on healthcare services to address frailty and chronic conditions. Many seniors rely on formal and informal support, with roughly 700,000 active pensioners, while a large proportion of the elderly lacks formal pension coverage. 

“This is now a burning national issue because Sri Lanka has the fastest-ageing population in South Asia,” Shiromali said. “With many of our youth migrating abroad and the birth rate declining, we must be prepared as a nation to manage the physical, mental, and economic needs of this large elderly demographic. If we do not establish a formal system now, the burden on our dwindling workforce will be unsustainable.” 

The issue, according to officials, is no longer viewed merely as a private or household matter, but increasingly as a national economic concern tied directly to labour shortages, productivity, social welfare expenditure, and demographic change. 

The Government is developing a National Policy for Senior Citizens covering the 2025–’35 period in order to address healthcare, economic security, and social care needs. The rise in non-communicable diseases associated with older age requires long-term care, which currently lacks sufficient specialised services, while infrastructure across the country requires urgent adaptation to be more accessible for the elderly.

The weight of unpaid care

In Sri Lanka, unpaid care work is overwhelmingly performed by women and remains largely excluded from national accounting systems, despite its substantial contribution to both the economy and society. This invisibility masks the extent to which the economy relies on the unpaid labour of women across ethnic and class divisions, making it imperative to measure and understand the disproportionate burden they carry. 

According to the report ‘Why Reduce and Redistribute Unpaid Care Work?’ published by the Women and Media Collective (WMC) based on a time-use survey across seven districts in Sri Lanka, women remain deeply engaged in both direct and indirect care throughout their lives, caring for their own children, children in other households, community members, the elderly, and persons with disabilities. 

These care roles evolve across the course of life. Younger women are drawn early into domestic responsibilities, while older women increasingly take on responsibilities in household management and farming. Elder care responsibilities are more common among those under 59, indicating that the burden of caring for dependents falls heavily on young and middle-aged women. 

Women also play a critical yet often undervalued role in sustaining the welfare of their communities through unpaid care. Their contributions extend beyond sharing the burden of direct and indirect care work to include fostering social cohesion and maintaining cultural practices. These efforts, often involving emotional labour and social engagement, are vital to community resilience. The high rates of participation in community care also reflect a significant gap in formal care infrastructure, placing a dual burden on women both within and beyond their households. 

The data points to structural barriers as well. The uneven geographical distribution of daycare services for children and the predominance of private providers limit access, particularly for lower-income families. The overall distribution of women’s time underscores the essential role of their unpaid labour in sustaining households and communities, yet this work often goes unrecognised, leading to severe time poverty, restricting women’s opportunities for paid employment, education, and leisure. The persistence of traditional, patriarchal norms around family roles and caregiving further entrenches these inequalities. 

Addressing these challenges demands urgent action, with a greater responsibility from both the State and markets in sharing the burden of care through expanded public services, social protection, and infrastructure.

The policy framework

In order to address the issue, Shiromali said that the Government had already approved a national policy framework together with a strategic plan structured around four key pillars: Social Assistance, Social Care, Social Insurance, and Market Issues. 

Under the Social Assistance pillar, existing welfare mechanisms such as disability allowances and elderly assistance schemes fall primarily under the Department of Social Services, which operates under the Ministry of Rural Development, Social Security, and Community Empowerment. The Social Insurance component aims to eventually establish pension and insurance systems for caregivers themselves, particularly workers entering the sector professionally. The Market Issues pillar focuses on regulation, industry standards, and the broader formalisation of caregiving as a recognised economic sector. 

The central focus of the current reform effort lies within the Social Care pillar, under which authorities are developing a 10-year action plan covering the 2026–’35 period in collaboration with the International Labour Organization and three separate ministries. The plan seeks to establish a nationwide framework capable of delivering affordable and standardised care services for children under the age of five, elderly persons, and people with disabilities. Currently, officials acknowledge that access to professional care services remains financially out of reach for many Sri Lankan households. 

“Professional care can cost a family Rs. 4,000–6,000 per day, which is unaffordable for the average citizen,” Shiromali said. “We want to standardise the industry so that services are of high quality, safe, and reasonably priced.” 

The Government’s proposed model includes not only regulating institutions but also establishing competency-based requirements for individual caregivers. “For instance, caregivers must have specific competencies in areas like nutrition, medical treatment, and physical handling,” Shiromali explained. 

As part of this process, the Government is moving towards making National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) certification mandatory for professional caregivers. Officials say the model is partly based on standards already applied to Sri Lankan caregivers seeking foreign employment. 

“While caregivers going to Israel or Japan already require specific certifications, we intend to implement these same standards locally,” Shiromali said. Discussions are ongoing regarding the exact NVQ levels required, though current overseas caregiving pathways often require a minimum NVQ Level 4 qualification. 

The broader intention is to transform caregiving from informal domestic labour into a recognised professional occupation. “We envision a future where, just as a certified electrician is now required for household work by law, any person hired to care for a loved one must also be certified,” Shiromali said, adding: “This will protect recipients while giving workers a formal professional status.”

The Government is also exploring minimum wage mechanisms for certified caregivers and career mobility pathways within the healthcare sector. “We also want to create clear career paths that might allow experienced caregivers to transition into roles like nursing assistants in hospitals,” she added.

Regulating the private sector

The reform effort also extends to Sri Lanka’s rapidly expanding but largely unregulated private daycare and eldercare sector. Authorities are preparing to conduct a nationwide mapping exercise of private care providers to establish a formal database and identify existing service gaps. 

“Next year, we will focus on mapping the entire private sector to create a comprehensive database of service providers to ensure proper regulation across the country,” Shiromali said. The Government also plans to establish national standards governing private daycare centres and care homes, including regulations related to infrastructure, safety protocols, staffing standards, and caregiver-to-dependent ratios. 

The strategy includes encouraging corporations and large employers to establish workplace childcare facilities that would allow female employees to remain in employment while accessing reliable childcare support. “Because the Government cannot build this entire infrastructure alone, we are mapping private sector providers and encouraging large companies to establish internal daycare centres,” Shiromali said. “This would allow women to return to work with the confidence that their children are in a safe, standardised environment.” 

“By professionalising this sector, we create a cycle of growth: we generate new jobs for trained care workers and simultaneously free up a massive portion of the female population to re-enter the workforce,” Shiromali said. Authorities are currently preparing budget proposals for 2027 to support implementation of the national strategy, according to her.

Gaps in elder care

National Secretariat for Elders Director Chathura Mihidum told The Sunday Morning that Sri Lanka was now attempting to fundamentally restructure and professionalise the country’s caregiving sector through a broader national reform process aimed at addressing long-standing gaps in training, regulation, and workforce retention. 

The reforms are being developed under a comprehensive national action plan formulated jointly by the National Secretariat for Elders, the Ministry of Labour, and several other ministries involved in social care and healthcare administration. 

The proposed framework has been designed around 10 core pillars intended to modernise the caregiving sector while establishing a more coordinated and regulated system for elder care services across the country. 

“The purpose is to create practical guidelines and a proper regulatory environment that can ensure quality care for elderly persons while also giving the industry itself a structured path forward,” Mihidum said. 

One of the primary concerns identified by the secretariat was the absence of a sufficiently professionalised caregiving workforce within many elder care institutions currently operating in Sri Lanka. 

“A major issue is that many people working within elder care homes are not formally trained professionals,” Mihidum said. He observed that although caregiving responsibilities had long existed within Sri Lankan society, the sector itself had not evolved alongside changing demographic and healthcare demands. “As a result, the quality and consistency of services can vary significantly because the industry has developed in a fragmented manner over the years.” 

Mihidum also pointed to a growing disconnect between training programmes and the domestic labour market, particularly as increasing numbers of trained caregivers left Sri Lanka seeking employment opportunities overseas. 

“Even though courses and certifications are available, many individuals complete these programmes mainly with the intention of migrating for foreign employment,” he said. This trend has contributed to a shortage of professionally trained caregivers within Sri Lanka itself, despite rising local demand for elder care services. “There is now a mismatch between the training system and the actual local workforce requirements,” he said. 

He also stressed that the current certification landscape lacked consistency, with some existing qualifications being too broad or generic to adequately meet either international professional standards or the specialised needs of the local care economy. 

“Some certifications currently offered may not fully align with what the market actually requires,” Mihidum explained. “Without proper standardisation, these qualifications can become less effective both for employers and for workers themselves.” 

One of the key objectives of the national action plan is therefore to establish a more integrated and coordinated regulatory framework connecting the elder care sector with labour, vocational training, and health sector policies. “This cannot be approached as the responsibility of a single department or ministry,” he said. “The elder care sector has to work together with labour authorities, healthcare institutions, and training bodies if we are to build a sustainable system. The main challenge is ensuring all these moving parts work together as we move forward with the national action plan.”

The way forward

The WMC report lays out a five-pronged framework for addressing unpaid care work, structured around the principles of Recognise, Reduce, Redistribute, Represent, and Respond. Under Recognise, the report calls for strengthening the care work data ecosystem, institutionalising regular time-use surveys, promoting interdisciplinary and intersectional research, and supporting mixed method approaches that capture both the scale and the lived experience of unpaid care. 

In relation to the Reduce pillar, the report calls for transforming gendered norms through cross-sectoral interventions, investing in time- and labour-saving technologies, and strengthening the resilience of care systems in crisis contexts, recognising that during periods of economic or social disruption, the care burden on women intensifies sharply. 

Under Redistribute, it recommends shifting care responsibilities to the State through social policy and public investment, improving access to and quality of public care services, engaging the private sector to increase commitment for care, and promoting shared responsibility within households and communities. 

The Represent pillar calls for ensuring inclusive representation in decision-making on care policy, raising awareness through participatory and inclusive approaches, and supporting and prioritising women’s collective action and leadership. 

Finally, under Respond, the report recommends strengthening legal protections and labour rights for care workers, advancing gender-responsive social protection for caregivers, reforming labour laws to support care redistribution, and institutionalising gender-responsive budgeting for care across all relevant Government ministries. 

Formalising the care economy is not merely an idealistic aspiration for Sri Lanka. It is a practical necessity that the country can no longer afford to defer – one tied directly to the sustainability of its workforce, the welfare of its rapidly growing elderly population, and the economic futures of the millions of women whose labour has for too long remained invisible to the national accounts.