Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the absolute and the relative intra-rater reliability of the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) among older people who are dependent in activities of daily living (ADL) and living in residential care facilities.Methods: The participants were 45 older people, 36 females and 9 men, who were dependent in ADL and living in three residential care facilities. Their mean age ± SD was 82.3 ± 6.6 (range 68-96) and mean ± SD of Mini Mental State Examination score was 17.5 ± 6.3 (range 4-30). The BBS was assessed twice by the same assessor, at approximately the same time of day, and with 1-3 days in between. The absolute reliability for the difference in score between the two test occasions was calculated with the Bland and Altman analysis of variance with 95 % confidence level. The relative reliability was calculated with Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC).Results: For the first test of the BBS, mean ± SD was 30.1 ± 15.9 (range 3-53) points and for the retest 30.6 ± 15.6 (range 4-54). The absolute difference between the two test occasions was in mean ± SD 2.8 ± 2.7 (range 0-11) points. The absolute intra-rater reliability was calculated to 7.7 points and the ICC value was 0.97. Conclusions: Despite a high ICC value, the result of the absolute reliability show that a change of 8 BBS points is required to reveal a genuine change of function among older people who are dependent in ADL and living in residential care facilities. This knowledge is important in the clinical setting when evaluating an individual's change in balance function over time.