| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立成功大學 === 老年學研究所 === 98 === Abstract
Facing the trends of increased unmarried rate, low birth rate and increased gap between male and female life expectancies, the number of elders living alone in Taiwan will gradually increase in the future as a consequence. Living along implicates lacking of family resources for care, if they have poor social conditions themselves and reside in small and remote townships where also lack of resources, they will more easily to be isolated and secluded by the society and then become double disadvantaged. This study used year 2000 census data to conduct the regional analysis of Taiwanese elders who were living alone, and referred the classification by Liu et al (2006) to divide Taiwanese townships into seven levels according to their degrees of social development to explore: (1) The regional distribution of single-living Taiwanese elders; (2) Analyzed the regional differences of the characteristics of elders living alone to see if they have the problem of being double disadvantaged.
This paper had ranked the social conditions of elders living alone in each Taiwanese township as advantaged or disadvantaged based on the three composite indicators: the average educational level, home ownership, and the need level of being cared for. The results showed that, whether it was the most 20 advantaged or the most 20 disadvantaged, the regional distribution of elders living alone was extremely discrepant if ranked by general administrative division, and the differences between the inside and the outside of each county and city were significant. According to the classification by Liu et al (2006), the most 20 advantaged elders living alone mainly resided in highly urbanized townships and general rural townships, whereas the most 20 disadvantaged elders living alone mainly resided in remote rural townships, in which the mountain indigenous townships were in the majority.
This study found that the elders living alone in mountain indigenous townships were relatively double disadvantaged if compared to other single-living elders resided in higher urbanized townships. In addition to their poor social conditions, their residences were also remoter, and the accessibility and effectiveness of the medical and welfare resources were more insufficient. Therefore, the Government and the society are expected to provide related social welfares such as medical care services, economic grants, and leisure activities to improve the quality of life and the social participation of the elders living alone.
Key words: Elders living alone, Living Arrangement, Regional Difference
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