Rising living alone among the elderly in Iran: prevalence and associated factors

This study first examines the pattern and trend of elderly living alone during the last five censuses in Iran. Then, after describing the characteristics of the elderly who live alone, it determines how social, economic, and demographic characteristics relate to the solo living of the elderly.

The data for people aged 60 and above are from two sources, including the aggregate data from five successive Iranian censuses and the individual data of 2% of the 2016 Iranian census. To determine the relative importance of variables such as sex, age, education, and activity status of the elderly, a set of logistic regression models using STATA software has been used for individual data analysis of the 2016 census.

The proportion of older people living alone in 1986, 1996, 2006, 2011, and 2016 was 9.1, 9.0, 10.9, 14.5, and 14.9%, respectively. City residents are less likely to live alone than villagers, and women are more likely to live alone than men. The odds of living solo among Illiterate, Primary school, Secondary & High school and Holding a high school diploma elderly higher than those with university education. Being a student and homemaker increases solo living relative to employees, but pensioners reduce solo living relative to employees. Moreover, the odds of solo living of the elderly in the early and middle stages of old age is less than in late old age. Also, the variables included in the analysis explained 16% of the variation in solo living.

The prevalence of elderly solo living is increasing. And this increase continues due to the fundamental decline in childbearing, changes in family structure, and the effects of culture and tradition. Also, due to the rise in life expectancy, which increases the number of years of life with the disease, and disability, the lack of relief organizations will create more difficult conditions for the older people living alone.