In the European Union, almost a quarter of young people aged 15-17 engage in unpaid care work, averaging 18 hours per week.

Omissions

• The Eurofound report was published in 2025 and is the most recent data available before the session date of 2026-05-20. The MEP could have cited this source but did not name it.
• The exact proportion of 15–17 year olds engaged in unpaid care ('almost a quarter') could not be fully confirmed from the accessible source snippets; only the 18-hour weekly average is directly corroborated.
• The Eurofound report may define 'young adolescent carers' with a different age range than 15–17, which would affect the precision of the claim.

Sources

• PrimaryEurofound (European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions)The average weekly unpaid care commitment is 29.7 hours for all unpaid carers, while young adolescent carers average 18.0 hours.