This story is from California but the same picture probably applies throughout North America.  Senior citizens who live alone may well be struggling to survive.  On average, renters are in greater difficulties than those who own their own residences.

A newly released study shows that Nearly Half of California Seniors Living Alone Are In A Money Struggle.  The report was issued by economists with Oakland’s Insight Center for Community Economic Development at UCLA.  They base their findings on the Elder Index, an estimate of the minimum income needed for seniors living alone.  In 2007, that figure was determined to be about $24,000 in California.

The report says housing is the biggest cost for California seniors, with older renters more than twice as likely to be in economic trouble than those seniors who own homes. Economic security also varied among races and genders, with about three-fourths of Latino seniors who lived alone unable to meet their costs, according to the report.

The problem is becoming more severe as seniors are living longer.  The present severe recession which has cut the value of assets has magnified this problem enormously.

The majority of these single Senior citizens are women and poverty hits them much more frequently.  Women are living longer but this has a downside.

75% of the elderly poor in the United States are women and the poverty rate of women is highest among those over age 65. Women live an average of five years longer than men; therefore, they will likely live at least some part of this time of life single and, most probably, end their lives living alone. This has important consequences for women. Unless they plan ahead, they stand the chance of living in poverty after the death of their spouse or partner.

An increasing number of women are single because of divorce or because they never married or partnered.  If single, they are five times more likely to live in poverty than married or partnered women, and older women of color have the highest poverty rates of all. Many women have worked in jobs that did not provide a retirement income; therefore, without Social Security and Medicare, the degree of poverty for these women would be much worse.

The problem of senior poverty is being increasingly recognized, but solutions will not be easily found.

Technorati Tags: California, poverty, Poverty threshold, Social security, University of California Los Angeles