Elder Orphans Hiding in Plain Sight: A Growing Vulnerable Population

Table 2

The table shows the prevalence of those at risk of becoming an elder orphan based on 2010 data. Prevalence was calculated by dividing the sum of the total individuals in the “unmarried, with children, but not in contact” tier and the “unmarried, without children” tier (the two biggest risk factors for becoming an elder orphan) by the total of respondents to the health and retirement study [4].

Risk description	Number	Percent (out of 22,034 respondents)
Unmarried, with children, but not in contact	3,903	17.7%
Unmarried, with children, but they are not in contact, and there are no siblings within 10 miles	3,738	17.0%
Unmarried, with children, but children live further than 10 miles away	3,106	14.1%
Unmarried, with children, but not within 10 miles, and there are no siblings within 10 miles	48	0.2%
Unmarried, without children	1,071	4.9%
Unmarried without children or siblings	141	0.6%
Totally unmarried, without children, or unmarried with children, not in contact	4,974	22.6%

Total prevalence of at-risk individuals = (unmarried, with children, not in contact) + (unmarried without children) = (3,903 + 1,071)/22,034 = 22.6%.