Background: The question of how health selects into caregiving activities of older people has been largely neglected in previous studies. This aspect is, however, important from an ‘active ageing’ perspective in that social participation can have positive effects on health, thus possibly contributing to primary, secondary and tertiary disease prevention strategies in old-age. This paper aims to address this gap in the literature by analysing participation in two different types of informal caregiving: care to older adults (inside and outside the household) and grandparenting.

Methods: Using longitudinal data from the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (waves 1, 2 and 4) on people aged 65 years and older from 10 European countries, we analyse differences in factors that determine informal care provision by older people in good health compared to that provided by older people in poor health. We apply logistic regression methods and account for potential individual heterogeneity.

Results: We find that participation in care is significantly correlated with individual characteristics of carers, differing by health status and type of care, while only small differences are found between health groups.

Conclusions: Even though the determinants of informal care giving are not very different between the two considered groups, policies to promote social engagement should take into account older people‘s health, as those with chronic conditions have less capacity to provide care. Further, co-residential carers have been identified as a vulnerable group, due to their lower socio-economic status and risk of social exclusion.