On the go: Nearly half of retired households in the lowest-income group are made up of women living alone, official figures have shown.
An analysis of the Office for National Statistics data by retirement company Just Group concluded that single women households significantly outnumber those of single men in all but the highest income group.
Splitting households into five groups by annual income showed that single women made up nearly half (49 per cent) of the 1.7mn households in the bottom group, where gross annual income stood at £12,706.
Single men made up 18 per cent, while the remaining third (33 per cent) were couples or homes with two or more adults.
Only in the highest income group — where gross annual household income was £68,429 — was there greater representation of single men (20 per cent) than single women (19 per cent). However, the majority (61 per cent) were couples.
Just Group’s communication director, Stephen Lowe, said the data is concerning and strongly reinforces the view that women do not do as well as men in retirement.
“Many household costs such as insurance, utilities and home maintenance are nearly as high for single people as for couples, so the fact that so many retirees on the lowest incomes live on their own in their own homes suggests they must be feeling the rising cost of living in their pockets,” he said.
Lowe outlined that there are about 4.2mn households composed of a single person aged over 65 — about 1mn more than 25 years ago.
“Low-income pensioner households are nearly three times more likely to be single women as single men,” he said.
“While the proportion of single male households stays relatively stable at about one in five across all income groups, for single women it falls from nearly half among the lowest income group to about one in five of the highest income group.”
Lowe pointed out that the single retirees represented by the data are not necessarily elderly widows.
“This lowest income group is on average a little younger than the other income groups and more likely to be under state pension age, which suggests finding jobs may be a problem,” he noted.
This article first appeared on FTAdviser.com
