Survival strategies late in life: living conditions of never-married elderly women in Gothenburg in the 1920s

Abstract

The growing percentage of never-married elderly people led to increasing demographic pressure on Swedish local communities in the beginning of the twentieth century. This article deals with never-married elderly women's income strategies when the idea of self-help dominated social policy. The study uses a prosopographical approach, based on micro-level data. The findings indicate that pooling income sources was of utmost importance for this vulnerable group of elderly women. Furthermore, as a consequence of this demographic change, there was an expansion of charitable organisations specifically aimed at elderly care.