Nursing home entry in Germany and the United States.

This paper investigates the transition into a nursing home in old age, using recent panel survey data from Germany and the United States. Among the questions addressed are: what is the incidence of nursing home entry, and how does it vary by age and sex; and to what extent are differentials in nursing home entry attributable to variations in family composition? Although the percentage of older persons living in nursing homes is similar in these two countries, the age-specific rates of movement into them appear to be much lower in Germany than in the USA, possibly due to the effects of public policies. The correlates of nursing home entry appear to be similar across countries as well, although data limitations limit our ability to make definitive comparisons.