Patterns of Support among the Elderly in Taiwan and their Policy Implications

Taiwan's rapid transformation from an agricultural to a modern industrial state, coupled with sharp demographic changes toward lower fertility and greater urbanization, has many implications for the social support of the elderly. The number and proportio n of the elderly are rising at the same time that there is a shift away from the traditional pattern of extended family households that have historically provided the context for social support. These changes have given rise to major policy concerns in Ta iwan, as well as other countries facing similar patterns of change. This paper examines the implications of socio-economic and demographic changes for old-age support by looking at support arrangements among the current elderly. Data used for this analysis are derived from the 1989 Survey of the Health and Living Status of the Elderly in Taiwan, which provides the first comprehensive, nationally representative survey of the elderly in that setting. Initial tabulations have revealed that the degree and sources of support vary considerably across the elderly and are affect ed by many factors. The current analysis examines this variation more systematically by addressing the following questions:

1) How does amount of support vary across different household arrangements (e.g., extended vs. nuclear) and with availability of adult children?

2) How diffused or concentrated is the support? Do one or a few children meet the older parents' needs, or is responsibility diffused across all children? Are there gender differences?

3) How do the characteristics of the elderly (e.g., gender, marital status, education) affect these exchanges?

These issues are addressed through special tabulations that reveal the patterns of support, in addition to a series of multiple regressions that allow us to estimate net effects of factors of particular interest.

Dataset(s): Survey of Health and Living Status of the Elderly: Taiwan, 1989.