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A Profile of Older Americans: 2004
Living Arrangements
Over half (53.9%) the older noninstitutionalized persons lived with
their spouse in 2003. Approximately 10.3 million or 71.2% of older men,
and 8.1 million or 41.1% of older women, lived with their spouse (Figure 3).
The proportion living with their spouse decreased with age, especially
for women. Only 28.7% of women 75+ years old lived with a spouse.
About 30.8% (10.5 million) of all noninstitutionalized older persons
in 2003 lived alone (7.8 million women, 2.7 million men). They represented
39.7 of older women and 18.8% of older men. The proportion living alone
increases with advanced age. Among women aged 75 and over, for example,
half (49.8%) lived alone.
About 643,000 grandparents aged 65 or over maintained households in
which grandchildren were present in 2003. (Another 215,000 elderly were
spouses of such people.) In addition, 453,000 grandparents over 65 years
lived in parent- maintained households in which their grandchildren were
present. About 416,000 grandparents over 65 years old were the persons
with primary responsibility for their grandchildren who lived with them.
While a relatively small number (1.56 million) and percentage (4.5%)
of the 65+ population lived in nursing homes in 2000, the percentage
increases dramatically with age, ranging from 1.1% for persons 65-74
years to 4.7% for persons 75-84 years and 18.2% for persons 85+. In addition,
approximately 5% of the elderly lived in self-described senior housing
of various types, many of which have supportive services available to
their residents.
Figure 3: Living Arrangements of Persons 65+: 2003
 
(Based on data from U.S. Bureau of the Census including
the 2003 Current Population Survey and the 2003 American Community
Survey. See: March 2003 Current Population Survey Internet
releases. See also: "America’s Families and Living Arrangements;
Population Characteristics: June, 2001, Current Population Reports,
P20-537” and “The 65 Years
and Over Population: 2000, Census 2000 Brief, October, 2001” as
well as other Census 2000 data and unpublished data from the Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid Services.)
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