Widowhood and its Social Implications

Demography of the Widowed

Among the more than 13.7 million currently widowed persons in the United States, almost three-fourths are 65 years of age or older. Moreover, the large majority are women and, given present demographic trends, it appears that this survivor population will increasingly be characterized as female. Nearly half (45%) of all women, but only 15% of all men, aged 65 and older are widowed. Among those aged 85 and older, this disparity is even greater. The average age at which people experience the loss of a spouse is 56 years, but about a half-million widows lose their spouses before age 45 (Himes 2001). Not counted here are the previously widowed who have since remarried. If they were included, the population of living Americans who have ever experienced the death of a marital partner would be much greater.

Over the past several decades, female survivors have greatly surpassed their male counterparts by a widening margin and now represent about 80% of the currently widowed population. In 1940, there were twice as many widows as widowers. Fifty years later, the ratio of widows to widowers had climbed to more than 4 to 1. Several factors help account for this disparity (Berardo 1995; Berardo and Berardo 2000) First, women generally live longer than men. Because their death rate is lower than men's, larger numbers of women survive into advanced years. Second, wives are usually younger than their husbands, and that increases their chances of outliving their spouses. Third, remarriage rates are significantly lower for widows. Therefore, although many men exit widower status by marrying again, comparatively fewer women do so, thereby adding to the surplus of female survivors, most of whom will spend about 20 years of their lives in that status.

Through advances in medical technology, widespread sanitation and health programs, and improved living conditions, the average life expectancy has been extended. In the process, the probability of dying prior to midlife has greatly diminished, and widowhood has for the most part been postponed to the later stages of the life cycle. At the turn of the 20th century, about one in 25 persons was 65 years of age or older, compared with 1 in 9 at the end of the 20th century. The gains in longevity have been more rapid for women than for men; hence, the growing proportion of elderly women in the population accents their more striking overall rates of widowhood. Because there is little chance that the mortality differences between genders will be reversed anytime soon, the excess of women at the upper ages will continue to increase, and the older population will be composed of a larger proportion of widows. Aware of these trends, researchers have focused their attention primarily on the conditions surrounding female survivors.

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