Even more troubling are the statistics that capture the vulnerability of minority older women. Even more troubling are the statistics that capture the vulnerability of minority older women. Older people living alone comprise a large and growing segment of the elderly population. Widowhood and the geographic mobility of children both contribute to the growing phenomenon of older women living alone. But what is perhaps even more significant is that more than half of elderly widows now living in poverty were not poor before the death of their husbands.
Poverty increases with age, especially among older women of color and older women who live alone.
The outlook for many older minority women is even bleaker. Among older women living alone, one out of every two African Americans and two out of five Hispanic Americans live in poverty. While women are at greater risk of impoverishment throughout their older years, the risks they face heighten with age. Most older women today will live out their lives as widows. Their primary source of income will be Social Security.