Turkish Women Who Outlive Their Husbands: Single Householders vs. Dependent Relatives

Elwood Carlson, Florida State University
DeAnna L. Gore, University of South Carolina Aiken
Berkay Ozcan, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

According to a 2011 survey, 41 percent of Turkish women over 65 lived with a partner, 32 percent lived as single householders, and 27 percent lived as dependents with other relatives. These three groups did not show systematic differences in housing quality or monthly balances in their household budgets. Although household income adjusted for household size increased with education and was higher in cities, again no clear difference emerged for different household living arrangements of older women. The only case in which women still living with partners had a clear advantage over other older women appeared with respect to access to health insurance. In both cities and rural areas, and for all educational levels, women who had lost their partners were significantly less likely to have health insurance. This was true both for women living as independent single householders and for women living as dependents in other households.