AARP Eye Center
The Life of Senior Singletons
By Alejandra Owens, July 25, 2008 04:59 PM
There is a great piece at the Columbus Dispatch about the lives of older single women and how, despite the stereotype of the lonely "old maid," senior singletons (as they're popularly called) are actually living it up:
According to census data, more than 11 million women 65 and older are single. The stereotype holds that as a group they're a lonely, unhappy, insecure lot, struggling through life without the benefit of a mate. But the reality for many couldn't be further from that image. The AARP studied older women who live alone and found that half are happier than they've ever been. A whopping 63 percent of single women who live alone say their older years are the time to pursue their dreams. The Economic and Social Research Council found that women older than 60 who live alone rate their lives as happier and healthier than if they cohabited. Men, in contrast, are far more likely to remarry after divorce or the death of a spouse.
The only downside is that single women over 65 are twice as likely to live in poverty than those that have a partner, which is a pretty big deal. But does that exclude the many older women who live together? Couldn't that be a legitimate financial support system?