Immigration and Living Arrangements: Elderly Women in Canada

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Abstract
The foreign-born elderly in Canada include persons who immigrated as young adults but have now grown old, as well as persons who have immigrated late in life, usually under the auspices of family reunification. Considerable diversity exists among the elderly as a result of these echoes of past and current migration flows. Yet, the implication of such diversity has not been extensively researched. This article examines variation in living with family among the elderly by age-at-immigration groups. Previously married elderly women who arrived as children or as young adults are less likely than other groups, including the native born, to live with family. The percentage living with family instead of living alone or with a nonrelative is highest for women immigrating at age 65 or later. Socioeconomic correlates of these patterns are examined.