Living arrangements and family support of older people

Some findings

Like other developing countries in the midst of demographic transition, Egypt is experiencing changes in the relative distribution of children, population in the working ages and older persons. The proportion of older adults (60 years +) was 6% in 2006 and is expected to be 12% in 2030.

A household based survey was conducted in 2006 to collect information for the first time on living conditions and informal support received by older adults. The study sample included about 2000 persons 60 years and over of both sexes.

Findings reflected striking gender gaps in demographic, social, economic and health conditions. Older males were more likely to be currently married, better educated, better economically secured and enjoyed better health conditions than older women. They were also more likely to go for out-door recreational activities. Women were more likely to be widowed, living alone in their households. Many of them were living in extended families with married children, with implications on their autonomy. Women were also less likely to receive functional care and assistance in instrumental activities of daily life from family members compared to men.

Some recommendations to promote quality of life of older adults were raised.


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Reunion is a French Overseas Department. It is located in the South Western Indian Ocean near Madagascar and Mauritius. From a total fertility rate of about 7 children per woman in 1960 to around 2.5 since 1990, demographic transition in Reunion is one of the fastest in the world. Consequently, it will be the same for the aging population. This would be a concern in a context of high population growth and local economy with a high rate of unemployment. People remain very attached to family care for elderly parents but at the same time they increasingly prefer not share housing with them. Based on demographic projections of population and households and examination of care public policies, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the levers of policy makers in the field of family support for the elderly in Reunion. Emphasis will be laid on the necessary coordination between cohabitation and the wish for family care to support older people.

The provision of informal care in later life is becoming increasingly important against the background of public expenditure cuts which threaten the level of support provided to older people and their carers. This paper uses data from waves 3 and 4 of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing in order to explore the characteristics of carers aged 50 and over. The bivariate analysis explores the patterns of informal care provision in later life, including the hours of care provided per week and the relationship to the person cared for, as well as key socio-economic characteristics, such as housing tenure and the receipt of benefits from the welfare state. The multivariate analysis explores the determinants of becoming a round-the-clock carer in later life, defined as providing more than 110 hours of care per week. The results show that in terms of their health, socio-economic situation and receipt of state support, carers face a disadvantage compared to non-carers, while round-the-clock carers fare worse than other types of carers. Such results raise critical questions about the adequacy of social policy for this group of carers at a time of expenditure cuts.

The paper examines the changes in family structure and care provision for the elderly in Nigeria. Essentially, the family structure is changing from extended nature to nuclear structure, with impact on the wellbeing of the older persons now and into the future. This paper, therefore examine the impact of Changes in family structures on care of the older persons. Data was gathered using questionnaire and multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 250 respondents. Simple percentages cross tabulations and chi-square statistics were used to analyze the data. The results revealed that the changes in family structure are evident and occurred over time and that the quality of care the elderly received has diminished. The change in family structure also influence the patterns of care giving or support to aging parents, in addition the formal institution of care as substitute was disapproved by majority of the respondents. Such changes are due to modernization, industrialization, population explosion, urbanization, globalisation and nuclearization. The study, therefore, recommends that government should initiate policies to reduce the effect of changes in family structure and advises the family on the primacy of their care giving or support function.

Using data from the longitudinal surveys of “Well-being of Elderly in Anhui Province, China” conducted in 2001 and in 2003 respectively, this paper employs the logistic random effects model to examine the gender difference in the effect of adult children’s out-migration on intergenerational support. The results show that while migrant daughters are more likely to increase financial support to their older parents, which narrows the gap between sons and daughters, migrant sons have a lower probability of increasing instrumental support, which also narrows the gender difference in instrumental support. Since migrant daughters have a greater probability of increasing their emotional support of their parents, the gap between sons and daughters in intergenerational emotional support is further widened. Although the division of family support in rural China has not changed completely, differences between sons and daughters in intergenerational support are reduced under the out-migration of adult children.

Socio-demographic trends are transforming the family and living structures of older households. These include greater longevity and smaller family size, a rise in the number of one person households, and more recently, the effects of the European economic crisis. New forms of older households are emerging as a result of these trends which will in turn influence social care policies directed towards the elderly population.
The research explores, from the perspective of older individuals, how social, demographic and economic trends are currently transforming older families and their living arrangements. The data source is the survey Families and Housing survey, (“Familles et logements”) 2011 (INSEE-INED), based on a sub-sample of the 2011 census (n=368,000). The research classifies different older household types according to family structures. These are then examined in relation to the proximity of family members in different households, as well as other socio-demographic characteristics contained within the census such as labour market participation of children.
The dynamics of older household living arrangements in the French population suggest that new and emerging solidarities within families need to be taken into account when designing current and future social care policies.

Living arrangements are vital to intergenerational transfers and welfare in old age, particularly in China which lacks social security system. This study seeks to extend current understanding of the dynamics of living arrangements among older Chinese by exploring two sets of nationally representative survey data that were conducted by the China Research Center on Ageing in 2000 and 2006 respectively, covering 20,000 samples aged 60 and over. The results suggest that living close to children, rather than co-residing with them, has become an important way of providing old-age support. However, such changes in living arrangements do not necessarily constrain intergenerational transfer capacity and make old parents worse-off. Weak evidences have been found that, generally, parents live far from children receive more intergenerational transfers. The family unit and traditional family support in old-age seem likely to continue to be the essential pillars of the old-age security, particularly in rural areas.

Despite widespread attention to population aging and contemporary increases in intermarriage, little is known regarding the implications of intermarriage for social support in middle and later life. Drawing on data from the 2007 General Social Survey (GSS-21) conducted by Statistics Canada on intermarried and endogamously married adults aged 45 and over (N = 12,345), this study examined the effects of intermarriage on the receipt of instrumental and emotional support. Results, generated by two simultaneous probit models, revealed that while intermarriage was accompanied by a reduced likelihood of instrumental support from others outside the household, this was not the case when it came to emotional support. The findings indicate that intermarriage is not uniformly positive, neutral, or negative in its implications for social support. Future theoretical and empirical work will need to address the complexities of these and other relationships in order to enhance our understanding of these emergent family structures.

Living arrangements