26.0% Of Households In The Country Have An Elderly Person As The Head Of The Household

In the third quarter of this year, 26.0% of the country's households are headed by a person aged 60 and over, increasing by 1.2 percentage points compared to the same quarter of the previous year ( 24.8%); This was reported by the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI), through the technical report Situation of the Older Adult Population, prepared with the results of the National Household Survey (ENAHO).

Of the total households headed by women, 27.5% corresponded to an elderly person and in the case of households headed by a man, 25.3% have this condition.

It should be noted that, in rural areas, 38.3% of households are led by older women while, in the case of men, it reached 27.6%, reporting a difference by sex of 10.7 percentage points. In the urban area, there are older women heads of household (25.5%), compared to men (24.5%).

During the analysis quarter, 40.1% of households in the country had among their members at least one person aged 60 and over, a figure 1.1 percentage points higher than in the same quarter of 2021 (39, 0%).

By area of ​​residence, in the rural area, the proportion of households with an elderly person reached 44.6%, followed by Metropolitan Lima (42.0%) and households in the rest of the urban area with (36.6%) that meet this condition.

In the quarter of analysis, 85.9% of the female elderly population presented some chronic health problem and in the case of the male population, 75.3%, registering a 10.6 percentage point difference between both sexes. By sex, increases of 3.0 and 2.7 percentage points were reported for both women and men, respectively; when compared to the third quarter of last year.

On the other hand, women residing in the rest of the city are the ones who suffer the most from chronic health problems (87.3%) while in the rural area and in Metropolitan Lima, they are 84.9% and 84.8%, respectively. It should be noted that, in all geographical areas, the proportion of older men than women with ailments of these characteristics is lower.

The INEI reported that of the total adult population aged 60 and over, 89.4% have some kind of health insurance (whether public or private), a proportion higher by 1.0 percentage point, compared to the third quarter of last year (88.4%). However, 10.6% do not have this service.

According to area of ​​residence, the highest affiliation to this health service stood out among the residents of Metropolitan Lima, going from 88.3% to 90.6%, followed by the urban rest from 87.9% to 88.2% and the area rural by going from 89.5% to 89.6%.

Access to Comprehensive Health Insurance for the elderly population increased from 47.0% to 51.0%51.0% accessed only the Comprehensive Health Insurance (SIS) and presented an increase of 4.0 percentage points compared to the third quarter of the previous year (47.0%); while 32.5% of this population group only accessed EsSalud and showed a decrease of 3.5 percentage points (36.0%).

In the third quarter of this year, of the total population with a disability, 45.4% were 60 years of age or older. In the case of women, 53.7% of older adults have some kind of disability; while among men it is 37.6%; there is a difference of 16.1 percentage points between both sexes, where the elderly woman has a higher incidence of suffering from some type of disability.

The cases of disability are higher in the rural area (52.7%) when compared to the urban area (42.9%). By age groups, 13.8% are between 60 and 70 years of age and 31.6% are 71 and over.

During the study quarter, 91.7% of all households with a female head of 60 years of age and over nationwide live in a home that has public water. In the urban area, 96.3% and in the rural area, 77.5%, have this service.