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Title: Living Arrangements and Economic Well-being of the Aged in the Past

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2001

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Abstract: Analysis of long-run changes in the living arrangements and economic well-being of the aged is limited by the consistent data sources across time and space. Some fragmentary evidence on the living arrangements of the aged in several European and North American countries before the mid-twentieth century is summarized in Table 1. The numbers should be interpreted cautiously. The earliest estimates are especially suspect, since we generally lack information about the enumeration procedures or completeness of the surviving pre-nineteenth century listings of inhabitants. Even in the nineteenth century, there was significant variation in census concepts and definitions among countries and across time (Ruggles and Brower, forthcoming). Moreover, the processing of the existing historical data has not followed standardized procedures from study to study, and we have little information of the representativeness of the local studies. Therefore it would be premature to make too much of the apparent trends and differences shown in Table 1. Despite all of these qualifications, however, we can be confident that prior to the twentieth century most elderly persons in Europe and North America resided with their children and that residing alone was extremely rare.

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Authors: Ruggles, Steven

Periodical (Full): Population Bulletin of the United Nations

Issue: 0

Volume: 42/43

Pages: 111-161

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Aging and Retirement, Family and Marriage, Housing and Segregation

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