Most men grow old with a spouse, but the majority of women growing older are living alone. So there are some real implications here in terms of caring for elderly women. Many elderly women have children over 65, so we are seeing more and more grandchildren as caregivers. In the next decade we expect to see several million people in our country over 100. Of course living to 100 with a good quality of life is really what matters.
Most elderly people live in their own homes or apartments, and they probably prefer it that way.
Only about 5 percent of the elderly live in nursing homes and that's because of an illness. Most care-giving is informal. It's caring for your parents by calling them, stopping by to see if they need anything, spending time with them. I have seen enormous self-sacrifice. All of the geriatric training programs in the U.S. combined turn out between 100-150 geriatricians a year.