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Title: Living Arrangements and Well-Being of Older Persons in the Past
Citation Type: Working Paper
Publication Year: 2000
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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 lack of 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 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 exceedingly rare. Today, the great majority of the aged populations of North America and Europe reside alone or with only their spouse. Moreover, recent studies suggest that the percentage of the aged who live alone has also begun to rise in many Asian and Latin American countries (Hermalin and Ofstedal, 1996; Uhlenberg, 1996; Martin, 1989; DeVos, 1995). Taken as a whole, the evidence suggests that the shift towards independent residence of the aged is a worldwide phenomenon. According to the consensus of scholarly opinion, the simplification of the living arrangements of the aged during the twentieth century has resulted primarily from an increase in the resources of the aged, which has enabled increasing numbers of elderly to afford independent living. The author's analysis suggests the opposite: he argues that the decline of the multigenerational family occurred mainly because of increasing opportunities for the young and declining parental control over their children.
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Authors: Ruggles, Steven
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Publication Number: UN/POP/AGE/2000/3
Institution: United Nations
Pages: 52
Publisher Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Aging and Retirement, Housing and Segregation
Countries: United States