UNDP: Elderly Women More at Risk of Poverty than Men

Women's life expectancy is longer than men's, which means that women are more at risk of poverty than men. [China Development Gateway]

According to data from the 2014 Human Development Report, which was recently released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), women's life expectancy is longer than men's, which means that women are more at risk of poverty than men.

The Report reveals that the average mortality of men is higher than that of women. In addition, women's average life expectancy is 63.7 years, while men's is only 59.8 years. Both of these two sets of data show that women live longer than men, which also proves that women's struggle against poverty will be much longer than men's.

Many elderly citizens and the people who live with them face a greater risk of poverty than other people. The incidence of poverty for the aged from the member states of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is higher than the average rate of poverty for the general population (The incidence of poverty for the aged is 13.5 percent, and the average incidence of poverty for the general population is 10.6 percent), and senior women are more frequently exposed to impoverishment. (See Chart 1). A similar situation can also be seen in many developing countries. In the Dominican Republic, Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Paraguay, poverty-stricken people aged 60 years or above account for 40 percent of the total population.

Therefore, the poverty problem for the aged varies by gender. Due to the restrictions such as marriage, education, and low-level occupations, elderly women, especially those who are widows or childfree, appear to be particularly vulnerable both in the economy and wider society. They may suffer from personal attacks and insults, or they can only survive as forgotten and neglected people.