Short birth intervals, high birth orders and mother's young age at the time of giving birth have all increased mortality and morbidity risks. The article calls for information and education campaigns to warn young people of the risks of early and frequent childbearing. Recent surveys are providing expanded information about the population of older persons as illustrated by the articles on Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam in this issue. Findings regarding living arrangements and support are briefly reviewed. In these countries, at least, there is at most only a modest trend towards reduced coresidence between elderly parents and their children.
Children continue to be an important source of support in other ways as well.
Considerable differences are apparent, however, in the extent to which elderly live with married sons or daughters. This in turn may influence how reduced fertility affects the living arrangements of the next generation of elderly parents. This article examines patterns in living arrangements and sources of social support for the Filipino elderly across gender, marital status and rural-urban residence. Using data from a 1996 survey of the elderly, the first nationally representative sample specifically on this age group, the study finds that, while coresidence with a child is the most common living arrangement, the elderly are not passive recipients of support. It also finds growing acceptability for the notion of homes for the elderly.