Evolution of Widowhood Expectancy in Finland and Its Inequalities

Margherita Moretti , University of Helsinki
Kaarina Korhonen, University of Helsinki
Timothy Riffe, Universidad del País Vasco & Ikerbasque (Basque Foundation for Science)
Pekka Martikainen, University of Helsinki

The experience of widowhood is a disruptive life event that can have far-reaching effects on individual mortality, health, and overall social and economic well-being. Furthermore, societies undergoing population ageing across the World are experiencing increased numbers of individuals potentially exposed to this life event, and we expect both the proportion and absolute number of widow(er)s to grow. Yet we still lack a comprehensive understanding of the demography of widowhood. Drawing on Finnish register data, we estimated transition probabilities using multinomial logistic regressions and used discrete-time multistate lifetables to compute widowhood expectancy, variation in years spent widowed, lifetime risk, mean age at first widowhood, and their gender and educational differences. Over time, women have experienced decreasing widowhood expectancies, alongside stable expectancies for men. Women spend more years in widowhood than men, and low-educated women face more widowhood years than highly educated ones, while the opposite holds for men. The educational gap is smaller for men compared to women, and it has been increasing for men and decreasing for women. Variation in years spent widowed has decreased for both genders, with women consistently showing higher variability. The mean age at first widowhood has increased for both men and women and across educational groups, while the lifetime risk of widowhood has decreased. Men had higher mean age at widowhood and lower lifetime risk compared to women. The gender gap in these two indicators has decreased over time within each educational group, while the educational gap has widened, particularly for women (slightly for the lifetime risk).

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 Presented in Session 5. Kinship Demography: Mortality Risks, Inequalities and Longevity.