Poverty Among Elderly Women

From Perspectives on Marital Status and Public Pensions

Abstract

This study examines why the gender gap in poverty rates among the elderly is widening despite the narrowing of the gender gap in the pension amount. We calculated poverty rates by marital status among the elderly and examined the poverty reduction effects of family support and public pensions. Data were obtained from the National Survey of Living Standards, from 1986 to 2019. The analysis showed that the gender gap in the poverty rate among the elderly widened because the poverty rate among widowed women increased, which was due to an increase in the proportion of women living alone. The poverty reduction effect of survivor pensions grew from the 1990s to the 2000s, but that of family support shrank further, leading to an increase in the poverty rate. In the 2010s, the poverty-reducing effect of public pensions for widowed elderly women also stagnated and the upward trend in the poverty rate was maintained.