Living Arrangements of Older Persons and Poverty

The living arrangements of older people are usually an important determinant of their quality of life. They are particularly significant for poor elders in the developing world, where formal welfare systems are less extensive. Policy debates in developing countries often allege that extended families and cultural mores of respect for elders have been more resilient than in the West (Contreras de Lehr, 1989). However, it is likely that rapid processes of social and economic transformation have had important impacts on household structures and on the positions of elders within them. To date, these issues remain very lightly researched, and empirical data are scant. The present paper provides some insights from a number of microlevel studies of poor communities in Buenos Aires and São Paulo.