Living Arrangements and Conditions of Older Persons in Namibia

In Africa, ageing is a phenomenon that is just beginning to reveal its shape. Most governments, including the Namibian government, recognize the fact that the number of older persons is on the increase, however, discussing it is still a distant phenomenon and family matter. This paper examines the living arrangements of older adults in Namibia, identifying the existing structure of living arrangements and the nature of family relationships of older people, as well as provides some basic descriptive information on the housing conditions in which older persons live and how they are associated with their socioeconomic and demographic factors. The analysis is based on 1991, 2001 and 2011 Namibia Population and Housing Censuses. The study concluded that living arrangements is constantly changing from extended family pattern to western nuclear family, mainly due to urbanization and decreased fertility rate. Housing conditions had notably improved in rural areas while in urban areas the conditions are affected by the mushrooming of informal settlements. There is need to encourage or conduct focused research on ageing to help coin policies based on evidence and make communities sensitive towards ageing. The study further recommends Government to encourage old people to form organizations that would in turn focus on sensitizing and help championing issues of ageing and aged persons.

Living Arrangement of Older People: A Study of Community Living Elderly from Nepal

Background: Aging has caused changes in the structure of families that raises reflections on the sustainability of the traditional models of family care for older adults. The aim of this article is to analyze the situation of living arrangements of Nepalese older people. Methods: This study is a secondary analysis of structured interview data collected by the Central Department of Population Studies at Tribhuvan University (TU) via a cross-sectional survey of community-dwelling persons aged 60+ in the Pharping area of Kathmandu. For this study, there were 1326 valid responses. Results: Findings show over four-fifths of respondents (81.3%) were living with family members, far more than with a spouse only (11.6%), alone (6.2%), and others (0.9%). The proportion of Populace residing alone tends to increase with the increase in age of respondents;more widowers tend to live alone compared to those in marital unions;more elderly males without living children tend to live alone compared to those who have at least one living child. The sex of the respondents, marital status, ethnicity, income situation, and feeling of insecurity have significant differences in the living arrangement of older people in this study. Conclusion: Traditionally, Nepalese older adults are contented to live with their family members. The government of Nepal should promote the traditional living arrangements of older people through some incentives providing for family members taking care of their senior citizens.

Evaluation of the Living Conditions and Health Perceptions of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Handlers in the Informal Sector in Dakar

Electrical and electronic devices are becoming an increasingly important part of our society. In Africa, and in Senegal in particular, the handling and management of electronic and electrical equipment (EEE) that has reached the end of its life is mainly informal. This professional environment is characterized by the disintegration of the sector and the social heterogeneity that can be found there. The objective of this study is to assess the standard of living of electrical and electronic equipment waste handlers in the Dakar region, as well as their perception of their health. A survey was used to obtain information on sociodemographic background, living arrangements, perception of health status, and good practices to be implemented in case of work-related health problems. Life style, perception of general health and health problems were ranged as excellent, very good, good, average and poor. Informal recyclers in the Dakar region lived mainly in rooms and buildings as tenants (49.1%), or in family homes (48.4%) before starting this activity, and 51.2% continue to live in rooms and buildings as tenants compared to 41.4% who still live in a family home. The perception of health status ranged from poor to excellent, and 4.9% believe that they are limited in work due to a disability or health problem. Informal work is a heterogeneous phenomenon that makes research and policymaking particularly complex. There are several external factors within informal WEEE re-cyclers that can cause health problems or functional disability. However, the living conditions and the perception they have of their state of health are contradictory to the working conditions and the social environment to which they belong. A biomedical approach would consolidate these achievements by confirming or invalidating them.

Dynamics of family households and elderly living arrangements in China,1990-2010

This article presents analyses on dynamics of family households and elderly living arrangements in China mainly based on the micro data of 2010,2000 and 1990 censuses.We demonstrate and discuss the trends and rural-urban differentials of largely declined household size,quickly increasing one-person and one-couple-only households,substantially increased proportions of elderly living alone or with spouse only.It is strikingly interesting that proportion of three-generation family households increased by 18.9%in rural area but decreased by 23.7%in urban areas in 2010 compared to 1990,due to rural-urban differences in demographic effects of large fertility decline and socioeconomic/attitude changes.We also present and discuss two interesting demographic phenomenon which were relatively overlooked in the literature.First,increase in number of households is much larger than population growth,due to shrinking of the household size and decomposition of larger families into smaller ones,and very much slowed-down population growth.Second,increases in numbers of elderly(especially oldest-old)who live alone or with spouse only are dramatically larger than the increase in the corresponding proportions,due to the effects of rapid population aging,while later and larger birth cohorts become old.Such trends have important implications for the analyses on the current and future market demands of the products and services,of which households are the consumption units.We recommend that the studies on home-based energy use and sustainable development should be based on analyses of family household dynamics rather than population growth.

Living arrangements and support resources for China’s elderly: findings from CLHLS 2018

The 2018 Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey(CLHLS)presents infor-mation on both individual characteristics and family characteristics of China’s elderly population.It shows that only 1%of elderly men and 0.1%of elderly women never married.Older elderly people had more children than younger elderly people on average.Younger elderly had more years of schooling on average than did the older elderly population.Elderly women were more likely than elderly men to rely on their children as the main source of their income.Eighty-four point six percent of elderly people lived with household members,13.5%lived alone and 1.9%lived in institutions.Younger elderly people preferred to live alone(or with spouse only)more than did older elderly people.Family members offered the elderly the most in the way of emotional support and comfort,while people other than friends or neigh-bors play a very limited role.

COVID-19 and the Tipping of Households Into Poverty in Senegal

Based on household data from the"Jàngandoo"education quality barometer collected from March to July 2019 and on the"COVID-19 and family"survey conducted in December 2020,this article compares the vulnerabilities faced by households before the pandemic and in the post-pandemic period.It analysis variations in household living conditions and in their financial,food,health and educational vulnerabilities of Dakar,Diourbel,Tambacounda and Ziguinchor in Senegal.The benefit of social protection in the same regions was also studied.It appears that COVID-19 is a major shock that has led to a decline in household living conditions from several angles affecting human capital.The southern and eastern regions(Ziguinchor and Tambacounda)were more affected,while the regions of Dakar and Diourbel were less exposed to the consequences of the pandemic.Inequities among regions persist,and COVID-19 has accentuated them.In addition to health interventions,the actions that should be undertaken are in the area of developing autonomous territorial poles to break the dependence on other geographical areas.