Future trends in health and marital status: effects on the structure of living arrangements of older Europeans in 2030

Abstract

This article presents the results of projections of older people's living arrangements in 2030 in nine European countries. It analyses expected changes due to future trends in health and marital status. Future changes in the marital status of the older people will result in a higher proportion living in their own homes: women in each age group will more often grow old living with their partner, and this will also apply, to a lesser extent, to men aged 85 and over. Both men and women will be less likely to live alone, with people other than a partner, or in institutions. But for men aged 74-84 the likelihood of choosing one or another type of living arrangement will remain remarkably stable in the future. Further, an improvement in health will lead to older people living alone slightly more often, and they will also more often do so in good health. A comparison of two health scenarios shows that changes in marital status have a major impact on overall trends in living arrangements whereas an improvement in health-which is not certain to occur-will affect them only marginally.

Determinants of home-based formal help in community-dwelling older people in Finland

“…Future need for formal care arrangements will be affected by the development of functional capacity of older people, but also by the future prevalence of marriage or cohabitation and by the availability of spouses and children as caregivers (Gaymu et al 2008). Population projections show that the proportions of older people living with a spouse and of those having surviving children are increasing during the next 30 years, suggesting an increase in the availability of informal help (Kalogirou and Murphy 2006;Murphy et al 2006).…”

Use of formal and informal care services among older people in Ireland and France

“…This could affect the economic and physical well-being of the elderly and their families [14][15][16].…”

Formal and informal care for disabled elderly living in the community: an appraisal of French care composition and costs

“…Third, this analysis does not consider the possible endogeneity of some variables, in particular household composition and health status [24,25,44]. Going back to living with one's children and the level of disability are likely determined by the care received [61]. In order to better understand the dynamics between formal and informal care, longitudinal data would be useful [62].…”