Assessing different options for the funding of long-term care – that is, nonmedical assistance provided to people with physical or mental health needs to help cope with the everyday activities of life – raises three key issues. First, it requires an assessment of the future need for long-term care services across the population, and of its broader socioeconomic repercussions. Second is the rationale for using public funds for funding long-term care, and how this varies depending on the specific country context. Finally, it begs the question of the way in which funding arrangements can be implemented in order to maximize fairness and efficiency in the system. Across Europe data suggest that an ageing of the population, coupled with changes in the availability of informal family support, increasing costs of care and raised expectations on the quality, intensity and flexibility of services may raise major challenges for policy-makers contending with maintaining or extending coverage and support for long-term care systems. Long-term care expenditures are projected to increase from just over 1% of GDP in OECD countries to between 2% and 4% of GDP by 2050. In the EU25 alone the proportion of the population aged 65+ is projected to increase from 17% in 2007 to more than 28% by 2040.