Aged and Poverty

THE INCOME SITUATION for older adults has remarkably improved over the last three decades. U.S. Census Bureau data indicate the median income of the elderly increased 60 percent between 1970 and 2001. The poverty rate among Americans over age 65 was 35 percent in 1959. Today it is only about 10 percent.

In reality, however, the economic status of the elderly has still not changed much. This trend is most pronounced in Europe and Japan and least pronounced in Africa and the Middle East, but it is a reality in nearly all countries. Some experts argue that the true rate is even lower because the improvement is due to increasing income not from private sources but from government support—particularly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. In addition, major disparities exist, with older African Americans and older women reporting fewer financial resources.

While the income of elderly married couples has risen significantly in the 21st century, there have been only modest gains for older women and no improvements for single older African-American women. Among the older population, poverty rates are higher among women (12.4 percent) than among men (7 percent), among the nonmarried (17 percent) than the married (5 percent), and among minorities (African American, 21.9 percent, and Hispanic, 21.8 percent) than non-Hispanic white persons (8.9 percent) in 2001. Divorced African-American women between the ages of 65 and 74 had a poverty rate of 47 percent, one of the highest rates for any subgroup of older adults. Loss of earnings at retirement, loss of a spouse, health deterioration, and discrimination worsen the economic status of these groups and lead to poverty.