WILLEMSTAD – The percentage of Curaçao residents providing informal care at least once a week has fallen sharply compared with 2017, while approximately 13 percent of respondents reported missing work because of health problems during the previous year, according to new figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).
The findings come from the Enkuesta Sosial 2025, conducted between September and November last year.
According to CBS, 7.4 percent of respondents said they provided informal care, or “mantelzorg,” at least once a week.
Women accounted for 63.6 percent of those providing this type of care, compared with 36.4 percent for men.
The latest figure represents a substantial decline compared with the 2017 National Healthcare Survey, when 20.4 percent of respondents said they provided informal care on a weekly basis.
CBS did not provide an explanation in the released information for the decline from 20.4 percent in 2017 to 7.4 percent in 2025.
The survey also examined the impact of health problems on employment. Approximately 13 percent of respondents said they had been absent from work because of health problems during the 12 months preceding their interview.
Among those reporting health-related absenteeism, 61.6 percent said they had been away from work for between one and seven days.
Women were somewhat more likely than men to report health-related absence from work. The rate among women was 14 percent, compared with 11.7 percent among men.
The figures provide new insight into the relationship between health, unpaid caregiving and employment in Curaçao, while the sharp decline in reported weekly informal caregiving compared with 2017 raises questions about how care for relatives and others requiring assistance is changing on the island.