Mapping the incomes of older people in the UK, US and Germany

Abstract

This paper examines the material well-being of older people in the UK, Germany, and US using longitudinal data for the period 1991-2001. There are many studies comparing the material well-being of older people in different countries using various summary indicators, such as the ratio of older people’s incomes to the population average or poverty rates among older people (Atkinson et al, 1995; Whiteford and Kennedy, 1995; Tsakloglou, 1996; Hauser, 1997; Forster and Pellizari, 2000; Disney and Whitehouse, 2001; Disney and Whitehouse, 2002). Whilst the results of these studies vary according to the methodology and data sets used, together they paint a fairly consistent picture of the UK’s ranking on these different measures. Typically, the relative incomes of older people in the UK are lower and poverty rates higher than in many other OECD countries, though not dramatically so. Some of these studies look in more detail at the distribution and composition of older people’s incomes in the UK and other countries and offer some possible explanations for the observed differences between countries. But, given the number of countries typically covered in these analyses, it is difficult to account for many of these differences beyond making some broad generalisations based on the structures of different pensions systems.

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ORCID for Maria Evandrou: orcid.org/0000-0002-2115-9358

ORCID for Jane Falkingham: orcid.org/0000-0002-7135-5875

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