Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0144686X10000231How to cite this article: JOËLLE GAYMU and SABINE SPRINGER (2010). Living conditions and life satisfaction of older Europeans living alone: a gender and cross-country analysis. ABSTRACTThis study focuses on the influence of objective living conditions on the life satisfaction of older Europeans living alone from a gender and cross-national perspective. The data were drawn from the first wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), which includes a single-item question for life satisfaction and a large set of health, family and socio-economic indicators. From a descriptive point of view, a lower proportion of women living alone declared themselves to be satisfied with life compared to men. When inequalities in living conditions were controlled for, the difference disappeared, but some determinants of life satisfaction differed for men and women and varied among countries. No limitations in daily activities, a high level of education, participation in leisure activities and an older age increased life satisfaction for both men and women living alone, but the existence of a child influenced only the life satisfaction of men, while income level (or home ownership) had an impact only for women. Moreover, a North-South gradient was clearly observable only for women living alone : all other things being equal, women had a higher probability of declaring themselves satisfied with life in northern European countries than in the South, and their determinants of life satisfaction were strongly linked to the socio-cultural context.

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.

This paper analyses the influence of relevant variables (age, sex, marital status, health, income, education and children) on the risk of belonging to one of the four main types of household in which old European people live nowadays: alone, with partner, with others, in a collective household. Nine countries with different social and political contexts are compared by using different data sources. These socio-demographic characteristics play the same role in all countries except for the influence of childlessness and of gender, but the geographical heterogeneity of the living arrangements remains partly unexplained due to currently inadequate comparative data sources for Europe. This research paper is part of the Future Elderly Living Conditions in Europe project (FELICIE, 5th Framework Programme of the European Community for Research, Quality of Life), which covers nine European countries. The goal of the project is to forecast up to 2030 the types of households in which people aged 75+ will live and their future care needs on the basis of the determinants of living conditions: age, sex, marital status, health, number of children and financial situation.

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Recensement classique Formule mixte Registres 5 enquêtes annuelles  références AVdeeV A., 2003, « On the way to one-child family: Are we beyond the point of no return? Some considerations concerning the fertility decrease in Russia »,

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