{"id":10030,"date":"2020-03-10T12:00:18","date_gmt":"2020-03-10T17:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/older-people-are-more-likely-to-live-alone-in-the-u-s-than-elsewhere-in-the-world\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T01:15:35","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T06:15:35","slug":"older-people-are-more-likely-to-live-alone-in-the-u-s-than-elsewhere-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2020\/03\/10\/older-people-are-more-likely-to-live-alone-in-the-u-s-than-elsewhere-in-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Older people are more likely to live alone in the U.S. than elsewhere in the world"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(Hiroyuki
(Hiroyuki Ito\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n\n

Living with an extended circle of relatives is the most common type of household arrangement for older people around the world, according to a recent Pew Research Center study<\/a>. But in the United States, older people are far less likely to live this way \u2013 and far more likely to live alone or with only a spouse or partner.<\/p>\n\n

\"Nearly<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

In the U.S., 27% of adults ages 60 and older live alone, compared with 16% of adults in the 130 countries and territories studied. In many countries in the Asia-Pacific, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East-North Africa regions \u2013 such as Afghanistan, Mali and Algeria \u2013 fewer than 5% of seniors live alone.<\/p>\n\n

\"Older<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

U.S. adults ages 60 and older also are more likely than their counterparts around the world to live as a couple without young children at home. Almost half of Americans in this age group (46%) share a home with only one spouse or partner, compared with three-in-ten globally (31%). Older adults in sub-Saharan Africa (9%) are especially unlikely to live in this arrangement.<\/p>\n\n

Globally, living in extended-family households \u2013 those that include relatives such as grandchildren, nephews and adult children\u2019s spouses \u2013 is the most common arrangement for people 60 and older. Nearly four-in-ten older adults (38%) live in this type of arrangement, including two-thirds or more in Iraq, Namibia and India. That compares with just 6% of people ages 60 and older in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n

How we did this<\/div>