The stress is getting no lighter. By 2030, more than one in five Americans will have reached retirement age. That will call for a lot of caregiving. One study found that retired members of the baby boom generation will need, on average, three years of long-term care. One in five will need more than five years of care.

This is expensive. Older Americans may be healthier than ever. Still, as they age, they will inevitably develop disabilities and chronic conditions like dementia. “If you are superwealthy and can afford all sorts of things, this is not an issue,” noted Lawrence F. Katz, a professor of economics at Harvard. “But if you are middle class, this tends to end with your relatives’ losing all of their assets and relying on Medicaid or family care.”

These pressures may draw more men to take responsibility for care. So far, though, experience suggests the burden will fall mainly on women.

Unlike the boomers now taking care of their parents, their millennial children will not have as many siblings to help care for their parents. Higher divorce rates imply that many aging boomers will have no spouse to care for them, putting additional demands on their children. And the elderly of the future are going to live longer, which suggests there will be a lot of caregivers well into their 50s juggling work with care for their children and their parents.

Much has been made of the fast growth of the caring occupations. The Department of Labor projects that the economy will add roughly 1.2 million home health aides and personal-care aides over the next decade.