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The National Alliance for Caregiving, a partner organization of the Alzheimer’s Association, published its 2009 report on caregiving. This is the first major update to their statistical report since 2004.

The report provides insight into what the American caregiver looks like and their attitudes toward caregiving. There are 43.5 million caregivers in the United States. What is no surprise is the leading condition for which they provide care — Alzheimer’s disease. AD is identified in 15 percent of all caregiving situations.

Among the other figures are:

• The average American caregiver is a 49.9 year old married, white female that works full-time and is college-educated.
• 19 percent of the U.S. population is a caregiver of someone 50 years of age or older.
• 74 percent are employed. More than 60 percent of those have had to leave work early, arrive late, take time off or make another work accommodation due to their role.

The full report is available as a PDF and can be downloaded from the Alliance.