Provision of care services for the growing number of older people is a major policy concern. We estimate use of hospital and nursing home care at the end of life by age, gender, living arrangements and socioeconomic position. We consider first entry and exit from care, and assess duration of care over the life course. The data used for these analyses consisted of a 40% random sample of the Finnish population aged 65 and older at the end of 1997 drawn from the Statistics Finland population register and linked with data on entry to and exit from nursing home care and hospital care in 1995-2002. Being female, old, living alone, and of low socioeconomic status increased the risk of entering nursing home care. Exit was affected by the same factors, but the associations were weaker and, with the exception of age, in the opposite direction. In the period before death, the non-married and those dying from dementia used substantially more hospital and nursing home care than others. The results have implications for patients and their caring relatives concerned about quality of life, policy makers estimating care costs, and clinicians responsible for end-of-life care decisions.