The increase in marital status differences in mortality up to the oldest age in seven European countries, 1990-99.

We investigate mortality differentials by marital status among older age groups using a database of mortality rates by marital status at ages 40 and over for seven European countries with 1 billion person-years of exposure. The mortality advantage of married people, both men and women, continues to increase up to at least the age group 85-89, the oldest group we are able to consider. We find the largest absolute differences in mortality levels between marital status groups are at high ages, and that absolute differentials are: (i) greater for men than for women; (ii) similar in magnitude across countries; (iii) increase steadily with age; and (iv) are greatest at older age. We also find that the advantage enjoyed by married people increased over the 1990s in almost all cases. We note that results for groups such as older divorced women need to be interpreted with caution.

Marital status of people aged 75 and over in nine EU countries in the period 2000-2030.

The marital status of older people has a number of socio-economic impacts. This paper presents key findings from a set of population projections for older people by age, sex and marital status for nine European countries. We use original data for national sources but we adjust the mortality and nuptiality rates for older ages by modelling existing cohort data. We then use robust assumptions for improvements in life expectancy at birth and we use these to constrain projection models. The projections refer to the period 2000-2030 and the following countries: Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal and The United Kingdom. Similar trends will occur in all countries; married people will account for most of the increase among those aged 75 and older by 2030, followed by divorced men and women, who exhibit the highest proportional increase.

Who cares? Geographic variation in unpaid caregiving in England and Wales: evidence from the 2001 census.

This article investigates the prevalence of unpaid caregiving by local authority district in England and Wales, using data from a new question on caregiving in the 2001 Census. We also examine geographic variation in the characteristics of unpaid care providers including health status, socio-economic status and ethnicity. Results show clear geographic variations in caregiving. The proportion of adults providing more than 20 hours of care per week ranged from less than 2 per cent to nearly 8 per cent. The highest proportions of caregivers were found in areas with higher than average levels of deprivation and long-term illness. Carers in such areas were themselves more likely to be in poor health. There are also clear variations in caregiving propensity by ethnic group.

Contacts between elderly parents and their children in four European countries: current patterns and future prospects.

Frequency of contacts with the family is an indicator of the strength of intergenerational exchange and potential support for older people. Although the availability of children clearly represents a constraint on potential family support, the extent of interaction with and support received from children depends on factors other than demographic availability alone. This study examined the effects of socio-economic and demographic variables on weekly contacts with children in Great Britain, Italy, Finland and The Netherlands using representative survey data which included information on availability of children and extent of contact. Our results confirm the higher level of parent adult-child contact in Italy than in northern European countries, but levels of contact in all the countries considered were high. Multivariate analysis showed that in most countries characteristics such as divorce were associated with a reduced probability of contact between fathers and children; in Finland this also influenced contact between mothers and children. Analyses are also included of possible future scenarios of contact with children that combine the observed effects of the explanatory variables with hypothetical changes in population distribution.