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Quality of Aging Varies by Sex, Nationality

Wed, 10/11/2000 - 12:00am — Karen Stevenson
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A new report from the International Longevity Center USA (ILC-USA) finds that the quality of life people experience as they age varies depending on their sex and nationality. The report, The Consequences of Population Aging for Society, is drawn from a 1999 international seminar in Luxembourg.

The average woman not only lives longer than the average man, she also remains more active in daily activities like shopping and household chores. The longer, more active lives women lead, however, often prove a mixed blessing. Women are more burdened by caregiving than men. Wives who are caregivers for their husbands report higher levels of stress and depression than those who take care of older women. Older single women ? unmarried, widowed or divorced -- are more likely to live in poverty than older single men. Despite their more active daily lives, when it comes to retirement, women turn out to be followers, not leaders. When a regular source of income is assured, a woman is apt to make her husband?s retirement a joint affair and retire too. But a wife?s decision to leave the workforce seems to have no affect at all on her husband?s choice to continue working.

Nationality plays a role, too. The Netherlands has the lowest poverty level among families with an elderly single woman as head, while Australia, the UK and the USA have the highest poverty levels among families with an elderly single woman as head. The most aging-oriented countries in terms of social expenditure are Japan, Greece, Italy and the USA. But despite the large percentage of its GDP the U.S. spends on older people, the United States has the most pronounced income inequality of any nation studied.

A new report from the International Longevity Center USA (ILC-USA) finds that the quality of life people experience as they age varies depending on their sex and nationality. The report, The Consequences of Population Aging for Society, is drawn from a 1999 international seminar in Luxembourg.

The average woman not only lives longer than the average man, she also remains more active in daily activities like shopping and household chores. The longer, more active lives women lead, however, often prove a mixed blessing. Women are more burdened by caregiving than men. Wives who are caregivers for their husbands report higher levels of stress and depression than those who take care of older women. Older single women ? unmarried, widowed or divorced -- are more likely to live in poverty than older single men. Despite their more active daily lives, when it comes to retirement, women turn out to be followers, not leaders. When a regular source of income is assured, a woman is apt to make her husband?s retirement a joint affair and retire too. But a wife?s decision to leave the workforce seems to have no affect at all on her husband?s choice to continue working.

Nationality plays a role, too. The Netherlands has the lowest poverty level among families with an elderly single woman as head, while Australia, the UK and the USA have the highest poverty levels among families with an elderly single woman as head. The most aging-oriented countries in terms of social expenditure are Japan, Greece, Italy and the USA. But despite the large percentage of its GDP the U.S. spends on older people, the United States has the most pronounced income inequality of any nation studied.