More and more older people in North Rhine-Westphalia are dependent on social assistance. The State Statistical Office announced on Tuesday in Düsseldorf that spending on care assistance rose sharply by 14.1 percent to almost 1.2 billion euros last year. Social assistance expenditure for basic security in old age and in the case of reduced earning capacity increased by 7.8 percent to almost 2.1 billion euros, as the state office also announced with reference to data from the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of Health.