This desk research will provide contextual demographic and background information on the population stage of aging of the various countries, the family structures as well as the policies and norms that guide the involvement of the family in care relationships. The availability of demographic and background information varies greatly among the involved countries, but this study will aim at providing comparable demographic indicators to serve the discussion and understanding of structural differences. The study will also outline and make comparable the various care policies of the study countries, to provide a background understanding of how these policies structure the normative setting of familial obligations in a care relationship in a given country. Tine Rostgaard will follow the project as part of the expert reference group and provide ongoing contextual and background information as well as feed-back from her many years of experience with comparative aging research.