Elderly Living Arrangements: Insights from North-East India.

The present study was planned to explore the pattern of living arrangements of older adults in Northeast India. The study was conducted on the basis of the 60th round (2004-05) report of the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). The researchers observed extreme dissimilarity in the pattern of the elderly living arrangements for the northeastern states of India. It was found that the elderly who were married and had children preferred to live with their family. In fact, the young family members, viz., children and grandchildren and the spouse are the major caregivers for them. The study divulges even after strong family value system in India significant numbers of elderly were forced to live alone in the absence of the spouse. The findings of this study disclosed that the demographic variables such as age, sex, marital status and number of surviving children become the important determinants of the elderly living arrangements in northeast India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]