SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports, Series P-60, No. 154

B. POVERTY STATUS

WHILE THE ELDERLY ARE ABOUT AS LIKELY AS THE NONELDERLY TO BE POOR, A GREATER PROPORTION OF THE ELDERLY LIVE NEAR POV

ERTY

Elderly persons are more likely than other adults to be poor. However, when children are also considered, elderly poverty rates are slightly below poverty rates for the rest of the population. In 1985, 12.6 percent of persons 65 and older had incomes below the poverty level, compared to 11.3 percent of those age 18 to 64 and 14.1 percent of all persons under age 65.2

The elderly are much more likely than the nonelderly, however, to have low incomes just above the poverty level. In 1985, 16 percent of persons aged 65 and older were in families with incomes between the poverty level and one-and-one-half times the poverty level. At the same time, only 9.1 percent of those under age 65 were in families with incomes which fell within this range. (See chart 2-3.)

2 Poverty is a measure of the adequacy of money income in relation to a minimal level of consumption (the poverty level). This level is fixed in real terms and adjusted for family size. The dollar values of the poverty levels are adjusted each year to reflect changes in the consumer price index (CPI). In 1985, the poverty level for a family of four was $10,989, and the poverty level for an elderly couple was $6,503.

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of the Census. Current Population Survey, March 1986.

TABLE 2-2. PERCENT OF ELDERLY AND NONELDERLY PERSONS BY RATIO OF INCOME TO POVERTY,

Persons who are 85 years of age or older have significantly lower money incomes than those who are 65 to 74 or 75 to 84 years of age. In 1985, the median cash income of couples aged 85 and older ($15,111) was less than three-quarters the median cash income of couples aged 65 to 74 ($20,354). The median income for single persons aged 85 and older ($6,400) was about 78 percent of the income of singles aged 65 to 74 ($8,160) (table 2-2).

TABLE 2-3.-MEDIAN FAMILY INCOME, 1985, OLDER AND YOUNGER FAMILIES AND UNRELATED

In addition, the oldest elderly are the most likely to have incomes below or just above the poverty level (chart 2-5). In 1985, the poverty rate for persons 85 and over was nearly twice that of the

65 to 74 year age group (18.7 percent for persons 85 and over compared to 10.6 percent for those between 65 and 74 years).

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of the Census. Current Population Survey. March 1986.

OLDER WOMEN HAVE LOWER MONEY INCOME THAN OLDER MEN

The low money incomes of older women are largely associated with a pattern of lifelong economic dependency on men and with status changes that occur in old age. In 1985, the median income of elderly women was ($6,166) 57 percent that of elderly men ($10,800). (See table 2-5.) As shown in table 2-4, older women in every age group were substantially more likely to be poor than men of the same age. Overall, only 8.5 percent of the men 65 and older were poor compared to 15.6 percent of the women. The oldest women were the poorest-nearly one in five women 85 years of age and older was poor in 1985. While women accounted for about 60 percent of the elderly population in 1985, they accounted for nearly three-quarters (72.4 percent) of the elderly poor.

TABLE 2-4. PERCENT OF OLDER PERSONS BY RATIO OF INCOME TO POVERTY BY AGE AND SEX,

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, unpublished data from the March 1986 Current Population Survey.

Women of every marital status had low personal incomes. Although married women had the lowest median income ($5,000) due largely to continuing dependence on the earnings or pension income of a male spouse, they were also likely to benefit from the income of a spouse, and married men had the highest median income ($11,454) of any group (table 2-5).

The economic status of women living alone was more precarious than that of married women due to lack of additional financial support. In 1985, divorced women and widows had the lowest and second-lowest median incomes of unmarried women, reflecting the loss of pension income and earnings often associated with divorce or the death of a wage-earner spouse. The median income of widowed women ($6,722) was 76 percent of that of widowed men ($8,798), since men are more likely to have retained pension or earned income after the death of a spouse.