Living Alone among Older Persons in Uganda: Prevalence and Associated Factors

Stephen Ojiambo Wandera; Isaac Ddumba; Joshua Odunayo Akinyemi; Sunday A Adedini; Clifford Odimegwu

doi:10.1007/s12126-017-9305-7

Living Alone among Older Persons in Uganda: Prevalence and Associated Factors

Ageing Int. 2017;42(4):429-446. doi: 10.1007/s12126-017-9305-7. Epub 2017 Nov 18.

Authors

Stephen Ojiambo Wandera^{1

2}, Isaac Ddumba³, Joshua Odunayo Akinyemi^{2

4}, Sunday A Adedini^{2

5}, Clifford Odimegwu²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Population Studies, School of Statistics and Planning, College of Business and Management Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
² Demography and Population Studies Programme, Schools of Social Sciences and Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
³ Department of Health, Mukono District Local Government, Mukono, Uganda.
⁴ Department of Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, Faculty of Public Health, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
⁵ Department of Demography and Social Statistics, Faculty of Social Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating the prevalence and factors associated with living alone among older persons in Uganda. A secondary analysis of the 2010 Uganda National Household Survey (UNHS) data was conducted. A complementary log-log regression model was used to estimate the association between living alone and demographic, socio-economic and health factors. Nearly one out of ten (9%) older persons lived alone in Uganda. Living alone was associated with being divorced / separated (OR 18.5, 95% CI: 10.3-33.3), being widowed (OR 8.8, 95% CI: 5.1-15.2), advanced age (OR 2.1, 95% CI: 1.4-3.2), residence in western region (OR 0.6, 95% CI: 0.3-0.93), poor wealth status (OR 0.3, 95% CI: 0.2-06), receiving remittances (OR 1.6, 95% CI: 1.1-2.3) and being disabled (OR 1.6, 95% CI: 1.2-2.1). Living alone among older persons did not vary by gender.

Keywords: Elderly; Living arrangements; Sub-Saharan Africa; Uganda.