The income and wealth packages of older women in cross-national perspective.
OBJECTIVE
We assess the income and wealth packages of older women's (age 65+ years) households and the extent to which low income is paired with low wealth, across a group of six high-income countries.


METHODS
We use data on income and net worth from the Luxembourg Wealth Study, a new cross-national microdatabase. We define income poverty as having household income less than 50% of the national median and asset poverty as holding financial assets equivalent to less than 6 months of income at the poverty threshold.


RESULTS
Older women typically have less income than do members of younger households at the national median, but their wealth holdings are generally much higher than their country's median wealth holdings. Older women's households in the United States report the highest net worth across these countries, in part because older American women have comparatively high rates of homeownership. However, American older women are also substantially more likely to be income poor. They also report high levels of asset poverty, as do women across all our comparison countries, with Sweden as a partial exception.


CONCLUSIONS
Further research is needed to identify the most vulnerable subgroups, to integrate analyses of necessary expenditures, and to assess policy implications.
Gornick
Janet C
JC
The Graduate Center of the City University of New York and the Luxembourg Income Study, New York, NY 10016-4309, USA. jgornick@gc.cuny.edu
Sierminska
Eva
E
Smeeding
Timothy M
TM
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007449:Investments / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010067:Ownership / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States; D014930:Women