Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)

February 22, 2004, Sunday, Metro Edition

Older, not alone;
Reversing a centurylong trend, Americans in their 70s and 80s were less likely to live alone in 2000 compared with earlier eras.

Warren Wolfe; Staff Writer

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 1A

LENGTH: 1995 words



For increasing numbers of older Americans, growing old no longer means living alone.

     In a social change that has implications for the baby boom, U.S. census data show that more people in their 70s and 80s lived with a spouse in 2000 than at any other time in U.S. history.

     Longer life spans, especially for men, help explain why more seniors remain together.

     The reality of aging - that the older you become the more likely you will live alone - still holds true, especially for people in their 90s, who live alone more often than any other group.

     But the latest census figures show that 100 years of relentless increase in elders' isolation ended in 2000, a Star Tribune analysis found. About one in four Americans in their 70s now live alone, and the rate rises after that.

     The Star Tribune analyzed more than 16 million computerized census records of Americans and Minnesotans between 1900 and 2000. The records are a representative sample of the census long form, which asks detailed questions about how Americans live. The data do not include people living in nursing homes, a number that also has been falling in Minnesota and nationally.

     The shifts during the 1990s are significant because older people on their own - predominantly women, since men on average die younger - are more likely to live in poverty, requiring more help from families and government programs.

     "This doesn't mean we will be able to slash government programs for the aged, or that magically all these people will be able to care for themselves without family help," said Dr. Robert Kane, an expert on aging at the University of Minnesota. "But it could mean things won't be as bad as they might have been."

     America is getting older. The number of people in their 70s and 80s rose 13 percent from 1990 to 2000. The number living alone in those age groups swelled by nearly 860,000, but the number of people who lived with a spouse rose three times as much.

     Plymouth resident Patricia Zalaznik, 72, moved into the "married" column last summer, more than 20 years after getting divorced.

     "This new partnership is energizing us, leading us to a healthier lifestyle and getting us involved with life in ways we hadn't anticipated," she said.

     Her husband, John Gorman, 78, a retired oil-company engineer and statistician, had known Zalaznik since 1947, when he married her cousin. When she died four years ago after a long illness, Zalaznik, a grief counselor, offered him books and encouragement, and their relationship grew.

     "I understand how many couples our age might be offering each other physical support with frailty," she said. "But for us, at least right now, our support is more emotional. In the end, though, that's the kind of support that may help us live longer and healthier lives."

     Free to choose

     For much of the past century, people commonly were widowed in their 60s or 70s and then moved in with family or friends. In 1900, for instance, that was true of nearly three-fourths of people 80 and older.

     This helps explain why only 6 percent of people in their 80s lived alone in 1900. That grew over the century to 46 percent in 1990.

     "What changed is that older people have gotten healthier and wealthier, and they've got the freedom to make a lot of different choices now," said state demographer Thomas Gillaspy.

     During the 1990s the trend shifted. The percentage of Americans living alone in their 70s and 80s dropped by nearly a tenth, the 2000 census data show.

     For those in their 80s, the percentage who remained with a spouse grew slowly during the century until 1990, then jumped by 24 percent in the last decade. Meanwhile, people in this group less often lived with someone other than a spouse, such as a son or daughter. That rate plummeted from 66 percent in 1900 to 18 percent in 2000.

     Minnesota has seen an even sharper decline in the rate of people in their 70s and 80s living alone. Still, overall, a greater proportion of Minnesota adults at any age live alone than the national average.

     Government planners say they don't expect this demographic shift to cut health care costs.

     For one thing, while the percentages are dropping, the actual number of older people living alone is continuing to rise as more people join the ranks of the aged.

     The total number of Minnesotans in their 80s, for instance, rose from about 46,500 in 1990 to 61,500 in 2000 - a 32 percent increase, far outstripping the 12.4 percent overall population increase over the decade. The aging of the baby boomers will speed the graying of America.

     Taxpayers now pay more than $1 billion a year for long-term care in Minnesota, and about one-fourth of American families are aiding older relatives.

     "What this says to me is that the demand for services for frail, older Minnesotans will continue to increase," said LaRhae Knatterud, a policy analyst with the Minnesota Department of Human Services. "But maybe the demand won't be quite as intense as it might have been."

     Help for the frail

     "Americans are living longer and they're a bit healthier," said Kane, who holds the chair in long-term care and aging at the University of Minnesota. "People who live longer can stay married longer, and in general, married people have better physical and financial health than widowed or divorced people."

     Population experts have been "waiting for this shift away from people living alone," said Steve Ruggles, director of the Minnesota Population Center at the University of Minnesota. "The pieces seemed to be coming together, and the question was, would it start in 2000 or later?"

     While many older Americans are surviving to celebrate their 50th, 60th or 70th wedding anniversaries, some who outlive their spouses are remarrying, a phenomenon that some experts suspect is more common but has not been measured.

     For Harold Westmark, 78, of Minnetonka, living alone began when his wife, Mildred, died in 2000. For Lucille Rebney, 80, it happened when her husband died in 1985.

     Although their children knew each other, the pair didn't meet until they moved into a Minnetonka seniors apartment complex two years ago. They were married last year.

     "She made me an offer I couldn't refuse," Westmark joked as they held hands and planned an escape from the Minnesota cold to Florida. "She can drive."

     "We both moved into this facility in the first place because living completely independently was getting a little troublesome," Lucille Westmark said.

     Her husband has difficulty walking because of a stroke and had given up driving.

     "We are a help to each other with everything," she said. "I think we really can do more now than we could before."

     Longevity up

     A lot changed during the 20th century to help older people live better.

     Better sanitation, nutrition and health care mean Americans are living longer, up from an average of 47 years in 1900 to 77 in 2000 - and 79.1 in Minnesota. The extra longevity in the state is contributing to more Minnesotans living alone. While women typically outlive men, the gap narrowed from 7.3 years in 1980 to 5 years in 2000.

     "Older single men are very much in demand," said University of Minnesota sociology Prof. Phyllis Moen. "My experience and the literature say that men who are recently widowed don't stay that way very long. For older women living alone, the financial stress and isolation tend to be greater than for men. So the funeral happens and the casseroles start coming over."

     Medicare and Social Security pulled millions of Americans out of poverty and made them less dependent on family for financial support.

     "Before that, some people needed to live with their kids - although in many cases, it was the kids who were living with their aging parents, often so they could take over the family farm or family business," said Ruggles, who has researched living patterns among seniors.

     As America has aged, an array of government and private services has developed to help older people live independently - and increasingly alone.

     The cost of health care for older Americans has been rising, but so has the quality of life that fake knees, heart valves and a plethora of prescription drugs can bring.

     "People are not just living longer, they are able to live a more active life, more involved with their families and their communities," said Bob Held, who manages the continuing care for the elderly program of the Minnesota Department of Human Services.

     Although services are sparser in rural areas, elderly Americans routinely get home-delivered meals, home nursing and personal care, transportation and other help from volunteers and professionals.

     During the 1990s, the number of assisted-living apartment complexes in Minnesota exploded, from near zero to more than 34,000 units. These apartments offer some supportive services for frail elders, although the cost often is the same as nursing-home care. At the same time, the number of nursing home beds dropped.

     "We used to have 37 percent of Minnesotans 85 and older in nursing homes," said Held. "Now it's 21 percent."

     Getting a handle on demographic shifts - not just future numbers of older Minnesotans, but also how they live - can help policymakers struggling to chart a course that ensures adequate services for the elderly at a cost taxpayers can afford.

     "That's why this business of living alone actually matters," said Kane, the aging specialist at the University of Minnesota.

     "We know that the pressure on government and on families will increase. But if we can help older people stay healthy and more independent longer - a wonderful thing for older people themselves - it also helps ease the stress on taxpayers and caregivers."

Aging and living alone

     In general, your chance of living alone increases as you get older. And as the 20th century progressed, the percentage of Minnesotans living alone grew dramatically.

     Older Americans live alone at lower rates than in Minnesota, mainly because Minnesotans live longer on average.

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Percent living alone

Minnesotans in 1900

People in their 20s   1.2%

                30s   2.3%

                40s   1.4%

                50s   2.3%

                60s   3.6%

                70s   3.8%

                80s 16.1%

                90s   0%

Minnesotans in 1950

                20s   1.4%

                30s   1.3%

                40s   3.4%

                50s   5.9%

                60s   9.1%

                70s 18.8%

                80s 15%

                90s 14.7%

Minnesotans in 2000

                20s   9.3%

                30s 10.7%

                40s 11.3%

                50s 14.1%

                60s 19%

                70s 27.9%

                80s 47.9%

                90s 66.1%

Americans in 2000

                20s   8.4%

                30s   9.1%

                40s 10.3%

                50s 13.8%

                60s 18.4%

                70s 26.6%

                80s 41.2%

                90s 51.9%

.

Source: Star Tribune analysis of more than 16 million census records from the Minnesota Population Center Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, a sample from 13 censuses. The paper examined data from 1900 to 2000. The 1930 records were not available.

Octogenarians less likely to live alone

     Compared to 1950, Americans in their 80s now are more likely to be married. And for the first time, they are less likely than in the previous decade to be living alone.

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Americans in their 80s living ...

     alone   with a spouse

1950 14.6%       26.9%

2000 41.2%       40.9%

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Source: Star Tribune analysis of U.S. census data, 1900-2000.

(See microfilm for complete chart.)

ABOUT THIS REPORT

     Computer-assisted reporting editor Ron Nixon analyzed census data obtained from the Minnesota Population Center and the U.S. Census Bureau.

     Ron Nixon is at rnixon@startribune.com.

     Warren Wolfe is at wolfe@startribune.com.